


Weightless

by FunkMcLovin



Category: Hades (Video Game 2018)
Genre: Existential Terror, Gen, Other, extended pantheon, primordial romance, void feelings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-14
Updated: 2020-10-17
Packaged: 2021-03-08 18:54:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 13
Words: 21,356
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27011566
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FunkMcLovin/pseuds/FunkMcLovin
Summary: Zagreus once again finds himself in Chaos's domain. Instead of take his boon and leave, though, he decides to sit and chat with the primordial being.
Relationships: Chaos/Zagreus (Hades Video Game)
Comments: 16
Kudos: 186





	1. Genesis

**Author's Note:**

> Now available as an AUDIO FIC:
> 
> [YOUTUBE LINK](https://youtu.be/4xgOcKMYt8s)
> 
> [Bandcamp Coming Soon]

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A link to the Audio-Fic: [CLICK TO LISTEN](https://youtu.be/4xgOcKMYt8s)

Zagreus felt the now-familiar sensation of the abode of Chaos. It was unlike any feeling under the Earth. Usually, he made his way in and out rapidly, but an urge struck him, a whim, to lay his hands on the stone columns around him, to take pause in this serene place. It was a rare moment of respite for the prince, in his quest to escape the only place he'd ever known. Every previous visit to this place had been quick, receiving Chaos's blessing and leaving, either out of haste or out of sheepish fear.

But the young prince hadn't realized that in his attempt to escape Hades, in this place, he was free of it. Perhaps not in the way he longed for, but in a way that was worth commiserating on.

"Zagreus," came a voice. It was, of course, Chaos, this world's only denizen. Zagreus always had to look around to identify the source of the voice, since Chaos's tone seemed to creep from all around, like honey oozing from the comb of bees.

"Ah, Chaos, mate," Zagreus said once his eyes settled on the unsettling being. "Don't mind me, just..." Zagreus faltered. He didn't know quite how to explain himself. Before he could clarify, Chaos interjected.

"Every being needs respite, prince."

Zagreus didn't know what to make of that. He watched Chaos curiously, the grey being's countenance as stoic as ever. The Prince took this to mean he was welcome, so he spoke up, trying to strike conversation. It was a habit of his, one that Chaos had discouraged him from before, not that the talkiative prince could ever help himself.

"Thanks for letting me stick around, sir- Or. Madam. I'm actually not sure," Zagreus offered, sitting down on the hard stone.

"Please do not speak to me, prince," said Chaos. Their words were firm, but there lacked authority. "Not of such trivialities, anyway."

Chaos's words were purposeful, as though speaking itself was not only a bore, but incredibly laborious for the being. They stared indifferently at Zagreus.

"Trivialities?" asked Zagreus, cocking his head, leaning back on his palms. He was nearly laying back, now, Chaos floating above, watching him vigilantly. "I didn't take your status as a man or woman to be trivial. Seems pretty important to me."

"To you," Chaos said, nodding. "But not to me."

Zagreus shifted again. The floor wasn't comfortable, but it wasn't uncomfortable, either. It was an odd sensation. The feeling of the floor was blank, null, unlike the stone of Hades's House, which appeared smooth but had texture, and unlike his own bed which was smooth, but had give to it. Odder still was the space around the outcropping. Darkness stretched out in every direction, with seemingly only this stone slab in its middle, where Chaos and Zagreus sat.

"Where are we?" Zagreus asked. "And, I suppose if I ask a question that you don't want to bother with, you can just... Not speak. I'll understand."

Chaos blinked, and for once, their face shifted. It was a small shift, from impassivity to mild surprise, then back, but Zagreus counted it as a win.

"We are in my domain, princeling," Chaos said. "A space outside the world. No rules govern this place except what I give to it, no form exists except for what I bid. It is a place of limitless potential."

"So you're saying you built this for me?" Zagreus asked, his lips turning up into a grin.

"Indeed," Chaos nodded, floating to one of the pillars, running a hand over it. "I drew you to this place and brought form to it to make you feel more at ease. Though I find your reaction strange. Do you think of this place as a gift?"

Chaos withdrew their hand, watching as the pillar extended slowly skyward, stretching out, seemingly at Chaos's whim.

"I, too, am such a thing. This being before you is not my true form, but a symbol, one made to help you understand my realm."

"That must be why it sounds like your voice is coming from everywhere." Zagreus nodded, rubbing his chin. All the while, he watched Chaos just as they watched him.

"Perhaps," Chaos said, blinking at Zagreus. "But the mechanics of my realm do not interest me. You are a more fascinating creature, Zagreus, and to me it is less as though I am bringing you here, and more that you are welcoming me into you."

Before Zagreus's eyes, Chaos changed. They grew legs, and instead of the gelatinous ooze of flesh, Chaos lowered themself to the floor and sat, mirroring Zagreus, laying back on their palms.

"Chatty today, aren't you?" Zagreus said, amused, watching Chaos perfectly mirror his movements. He raised his hand, Chaos theirs. He smiled, Chaos matched him mechanically. "That's quite a trick you've got."

"You fascinate me, Zagreus," Chaos said, following as Zagreus touched his nose, then his chin. "No mortal nor God has ever understood my being, and you are no exception, but you are not unwelcome in my realm, unlike them. When you are here I feel a strange feeling."

"Strange good or strange bad?" Zagreus asked, lifting one leg, watching Chaos lift theirs in tandem.

"Strange," Chaos reiterated. "New."

Zagreus stood up, holding his hand out. Chaos followed suit. Slowly, Zagreus paced forward and Chaos followed, until their palms touched, gently.

"Tell me how," Zagreus spoke softly.

"You saying those words is precisely the phenomenon I'm referring to," Chaos said. They stopped mirroring Zagreus, intwining their fingers with his. Zagreus followed suit, following Chaos's movements, now. "You do not understand my domain, you do not understand me, you understand nothing, and yet, you do not fear this place, you do not fear me. You are neither struck by awe or by shock. You simply enter my realm and instead of absurdly demand answers, you sit calmly and observe."

Chaos and Zagreus lowered their hands, and Chaos moved to stand at Zagreus's side.

"Before meeting you, little Prince, I thought all beings were the same. They fear what they do not understand, and failing that, they demand knowledge with their petty words. I thought a being like you was a paradox, one who knows by not knowing."

Zagreus looked down, and couldn't help from blushing. He was holding hands with a primodial being, after all, that didn't happen every day. Chaos's hand wasn't warm, it wasn't cold, it was the same texture as the smooth stone that made up the floor, registering as touch, but with no texture. Still, it was comforting, the once-weightless Chaos, now entwined for this moment with him.

"Are you... Flirting with me, mate?" Zagreus asked, swallowing.

"Perhaps," Chaos said, softly. "Are you with me?"

"I like you, Chaos," Zagreus said, simply. "That's more important than my curiousity about this place."

When Zagreus looked at Chaos, he was shocked- Chaos was smiling. It was a kind, loving smile, beautiful and meticulous, like a painting, like art, and once Zagreus looked, it was gone.

"My apologies," Chaos said. "I am not used to affecting facial expressions. Forgive me if my attempt was uncanny."

Zagreus laughed, letting go of Chaos's hand, putting his hands on the being's shoulders, grinning as wide as he could.

"No problem, mate. Tell you what. Next time I show up, practice and show me what you got."

Chaos nodded solemnly, putting their hands on Zagreus's shoulders in return. They were just hands, but their weight didn't leave when Chaos removed them.

"I think we should see more of each other, Prince Zagreus," said Chaos. Their voice echoed throughout the place, his body dissolving into the darkness like a shade.

When Zagreus emerged into Tartarus, his mind turned to other affairs, such as how best to skewer the vermin of the underworld, but the weight did not lift from his shoulders as he vied for the surface. Like Chaos was there with him, pushing him forth.


	2. Embrace

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zagreus finds his mother, but all is not well. He consults with Chaos to smooth over his thoughts.

Zagreus had taken to staying a while in Chaos when he got the chance. It didn't seem as though Chaos minded, welcoming Zagreus whenever he entered their domain. Each time Zagreus re-entered, it was different. Yesterday a temple shrouded in starlight, today, a grassy field.

"Welcome, Zagreus," said Chaos all around him. There was a tree, casting a long, shady shadow against the ground. As Zagreus approached, he saw Chaos, a familiar face, among the bark of the tree.

"This is new," Zagreus said, amused, running his hand over the tree bark. Everything in Chaos's realm was false, the tree bark was too smooth, much more so than the trees of Elysium. It was less like a tree and more like a sculpture, a false icon, a re-creation emphasizing a tree's beauty. Though it was uncanny to see an ambulating face in a tree, Zagreus couldn't help but smile.

"Indeed," said Chaos. "I have not seen you for some time."

Zagreus sighed. There was good reason for that. Chaos seemed to detect the change in Zagreus's demeanor.

"I shall not press the reason for this, Zagreus," Chaos began, speaking evenly as ever. "After all, I have no reason to think you think less of me. Usually I would welcome the mystery, but if you would like to tell me what fills your mind, speak it, please."

"I saw my mother," Zagreus said slowly. It was a painful memory, one that burned in his heart.

"But not for long enough," finished Chaos. Zagreus nodded. Truth be told, he hadn't told anyone else about his encounter, yet. He didn't know how to, but with Chaos, the words came easily. The face in the tree blinked, making a face that looked as though it had just swallowed boiled lava.

"What's that look for, mate?" Zagreus said, unable to stifle a laugh.

"Oh," said Chaos, reverting their face back to its usual taciturn appearance. "My apologies. I am trying to affect sympathy. I have never needed to construct expression before."

The surreal gesture might have been lost on someone else, but Zagreus understood. Chaos was being sympathetic.

"You don't have a mother, do you?" asked the godling, leaning against Chaos's base, watching the leaves above him shift.

"No," was the simple response. "I have no parents, I have no progenitor at all, unlike most of creation. I have existed forever. Whether I will continue to exist forever remains to be seen, but I am the progenitor."

"So you created all this? Hades, the Earth, everyone on it?"

There was a long pause. Chaos made wind rustle Zagreus's hair, the cool breeze rolling over the infinite field.

"In a sense," Chaos said. "I was not its architect. I was not its designer. I was merely a catalyst, the match to a candle, the inception, the genesis. In the beginning, there was only me, and on a whim, I made the first beings. Gaea, Tartarus. Titans and Gods followed suit, then mortals, then all the things under and above. It was not my will that made them, but I did make their will. I can therefore take no credit for their works, nor the beings they became."

"That's rather special," Zagreus said, quietly. An odd choice of words, perhaps, but it was the one that came to mind. He found himself smiling. "You don't give yourself enough credit, friend."

Another breeze rustled the leaves.

"Friend...?" Chaos said. They weren't trying to affect anything this time. In their voice, Zagreus heard hesitation. Trepidation. Awe.

"Of course," Zagreus replied. He was sure of it. He'd gotten to know Chaos only a little, but he wanted to know so much more. He wanted to understand them, and every time he came back to visit, they provided not only answers, but companionship.

"I hope you do not take my hesitation to mean I don't reciprocate," Chaos said, slowly, for once choosing their words carefully. "I have just never been approached before in this way."

"Really?" Zagreus said, standing up, turning to face Chaos's woody visage.

"No," the eye contact Chaos made was intense. "Your world was not the only one I hatched. I have made many. Yours, of Gods and Heroes, others, born of grand explosions in space, others still born of those worlds, simulations, hallucinations, a foam of being sprawled out due to my whims. But they have always extended past me. Expanded away in every direction as soon as they exist. Never has a being come back to me so often, never have they in my eternal time, said they were my friend."

"That sounds awfully sad, mate," Zagreus said, putting a solemn hand on Chaos's branch.

"Sad?" Chaos made another breeze kick up. "Not sad, Zagreus. I never have desired friendship-"

"Oh," Zagreus hastily took his hand off the branch. "Sorry, I didn't mean to overstep-"

"-Until now." Chaos cut Zagreus off, his voice seeming to echo through the field, gentle reverberations. It made Zagreus dizzy. He fell to the ground onto his rump, and when he opened his eyes, Chaos stood above him, no longer a tree, but in the form of a man, reaching down to help Zagreus to his feet.

"I have never wanted a being to be happy, Zagreus. I have never felt a being want me to be happy. Even Nyx, even Gaea, even my countless creations from countless worlds... They all solemnly bow to me as their creator, but not you. You..." Chaos paused. The field fell away behind them, and the two were floating. Chaos hadn't let go of Zagreus's hand, the duo floating in nothingness, weightless, held together only by their grip.

"Chaos..." Zagreus said softly. He felt something stir in his heart. Something he'd never had time to feel before. It began to thud in his chest, and calling Chaos his "friend" no longer seemed adequate. He opened his mouth, but Chaos put his finger to Zagreus's lips.

"Don't say what we both know, Zagreus," they said. Chaos looked beautiful. Not just the being, the man Chaos appeared as, but the rest of them, the twinkling stars in the void behind them, the artful replicas of nature Chaos made, the beauty was beyond words. It wasn't fair, Zagreus thought. "Words rob the world of power. Words turn emotions into thoughts, words turn feelings into something lesser. Something base."

Chaos pulled Zagreus closer, and Zagreus's hand found Chaos's hip. He was breathing heavily, even though there was no air to breathe, his lips parting gently.

"I know a way... To speak without words," Zagreus said, softly. Chaos blinked. Their mouths were so close, now, Chaos could feel the heat of Zagreus's breath and they drew it in, closing the gap between them. They kissed, and it was electric. Zagreus had never been kissed before, and Chaos, in their vast infinity, had not either. It was chaste, it was over in an instant, but it was enough.

"Chaos..." Zagreus whispered as they pulled away, but when he opened his eyes, it was not to Chaos or their realm. It was to a familiar bedroom. Chaos was gone. Zagreus felt a pang. Damn. He would have liked to do that again.

"Hey, Zag!" came a cheerful voice from his doorway. Zagreus started, whirling around in shock.

"Hypnos!" Zagreus said, scandalized. He was shocked out of his awe and quickly into embarrassment. "How long were you there? How long was I here?"

"Long enough to watch you kissing your mirror!" Hypnos said, waggling his eyebrows scandalously. "Practicing for your boyfriend?? Or- Is Chaos a girlfriend? Or would it be... THEM-friend?"

"Get out!" Zagreus said, face burning bright red with hot shame, taking an ink bottle from his desk, hucking it at Hypnos, who slid out of the way, grinning impishly.

When Hypnos was gone, Zagreus ran a hand through his hair. His heart was still thudding and he could still feel the weight on his lips.


	3. Solitude

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nyx visits Chaos behind Zagreus's back.

"I understand you are meeting with Zagreus," said Nyx, slowly. It was thanks to Zagreus that the two were able to speak at all, a fact the duo was thankful for. Still, there was a space between them that Chaos didn't enjoy. Nyx was like the rest of them. Despite being their daughter, Nyx treated Chaos at arm's length, and despite having the love of a daughter, Nyx had the same apprehension the rest of the waking world did.

"I am," replied the primordial being. They had taken to a more human appearance, lately. Today, Chaos looked like a marble statue, blank of color, an alabaster sculpture that moved like a person.

"I did not take you for one who would fraternize in that way," Nyx said. She was always so calm, thought Chaos, to even-tempered. Was this how people saw them? Chaos didn't emote because it was alien to them, but Nyx did not because it was her choice. Chaos couldn't help but feel a bit resentful. It was a mild feeling, but Nyx was given the power to emote and chose not to use it.

"I did not, either," Chaos said.

"Do you think it wise?"

The question struck Chaos as odd. For practice, they cocked their head to the side, curiously. The gesture seemed to work, because without otherwise prompting, Nyx elaborated.

"Zagreus can make his own choices, as can you, but beings are fickle. More fickle, perhaps, than you're used to."

"Are you trying to warn me of something, Nyx?" Chaos asked. It was a blunt question. Chaos didn't ask many questions, they never needed to, after all. Things in their realm were within their control, so the need for query was rare.

"Yes," Nyx replied, tenting her fingers. "Zagreus is impetuous and thoughtful. While I'm sure he does invite positive emotions where before there were none... He can also invite negative ones."

"Perhaps," said Chaos, turning their head away from Nyx. They had considered this, of course. Chaos was not naive- Love involved heartbreak, too, even if the two of them were simply friends.

"You are not conventional, either, Chaos," Nyx said. "Would you be able to give him what he wanted? Would you be able to keep him safe? If something went wrong, would you-"

"Enough," Chaos said, their words echoing through the space. Chaos's body shifted, and they turned back into their old form, a floating grey torso, their third eye in the center of their head. Gelatinous and alien, a form Nyx was more used to, one Chaos was more comfortable in. Chaos didn't speak for a moment. Chaos usually loved being unsure, uncertainty was the realm they marinated in. Interpretation, raw emotion, all were things Chaos was familiar with... But for some reason, this uncertainty, the uncertainty of Zagreus, of that mysterious man and his striking eyes... That uncertainty shook Chaos to the core.

"It is best to remain here, Chaos. Alone. You possess a great privelige," said Nyx, bowing humbly. Chaos hated when Nyx bowed to them, but her words were no less stinging in their truth. "You are separate. Isolated. Allowed to create from on high, to exist in whatever way you please. Zagreus would intrude upon that peace, he would demand things of you that you could not return. He deserves a being from his own world, and you deserve your noble solitude."

Nyx knelt on one knee. When Chaos remained silent, she looked up at him, extending her hand. In it was a cosmic egg, the very one Chaos had given to Zagreus, the one that allowed him to enter their domain unscathed.

"Take this back," she said. Chaos extended their hand, taking the token.

"You are right, Nyx," said Chaos. They spoke with weight, as though reluctant to admit. "Lasting love is not fostered by me. My being does not allow for it. I was not born of the world he is from, and the allure of a new experience drove me beyond my perception, beyond my own judgement."

Nyx rose to her feet, standing over the exit that Chaos had provided at their meeting's beginning.

"Zagreus must never return," Chaos said, shattering their own egg in their clenched fist.

When Nyx was gone, Chaos was left alone once more. Their words hung in their mind. Chaos had lived a long time, and seen many things, created more still, but never before had questioned their own judgement. Never before made so uneasy by uncertainty. Because even in their resolute decision, they weren't sure if it was the right one.

Chaos's domain was comfortable. Serene. Whenever anyone had entered it before, even beloved Nyx, they felt as though something was amiss, until Zagreus. Before Nyx had interjected, Chaos had blindly followed their own feelings, but a new emotion now gripped Chaos, an emotion that they had so often associated with mortals, with beings, and it terrified them that they now understood...

Why beings feared what they did not know: It might hurt them.


	4. Reminiscence

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nyx explains her betrayal to Zagreus.

The pain in being apart from Chaos was more than Zagreus expected. Days had passed, or so he assumed, for it was difficult to tell in the dim of Hades the passing of time, since he had seen Chaos, and his heart ached for it. They had shared one singular kiss, and he was behaving like Cerberus when he hadn't been fed yet. Still, Zagreus couldn't help it. It wasn't like he could enter Chaos without Chaos's help, he had no means to do so. Furthermore, his egg, his trinket, his one worldly gift from Chaos, had gone missing. He suspected foul play, of course, but from who, he couldn't imagine.

After a particularly grueling slog surface-ward, Zagreus relented and approached Nyx, still shaking the blood from his hair.

"Nyx," he said, hailing her attention. She turned, serene and quiet. Zagreus used to think she and Chaos were so alike, so stoic and impassive, but now that Zagreus had spent so much time with the both of them, he understood the difference. Nyx's taciturn expression was practiced, whereas it was quite the opposite for Chaos, their face straining to make the simplest expression. Nyx was stony by choice, Chaos by necessity.

"Zagreus," Nyx said, the austere fondness filling her voice as she laid eyes on the boy. "Welcome back. Were you able to see your mother?"

"No, I'm afraid, but oddly enough it's not her I'm missing," Zagreus responded, scratching the back of his neck. He wasn't sure how to ask the question on the tip of his tongue. After all, Nyx might not be his mother by birth, but she had done most of the mothering he experienced growing up in the House. Persephone was his birthmother, but Zagreus felt as though he was lucky enough to have two. Perhaps that made up for his lackluster father.

"I see," was all Nyx responded. She blinked down at him, waiting for him to continue.

"Look, recently I've been growing close to Chaos," Zagreus began. He was surprised when Nyx didn't look surprised in the least. "And, well, they've rather shut me out recently. You wouldn't happen to know any back-channels to get to their domain, would you, Nyx?"

"Do you have a message to relay?" asked Nyx softly. It was a response that didn't sit quite correctly with Zagreus. He hastened to qualify himself.

"No, no, I mean. I have to- I want to see them. In person. It's a personal matter." Zagreus felt a little embarrassed, dangerously close to revealing his burgeoning feelings to his own half-mother.

"Then you will have to wait for Chaos to open their realm to you," Nyx said. Zagreus scanned her features. They were too perfect- Manufactured, like the trees in Chaos's field. Zagreus crossed his arms.

"Come now, Nyx. You're being coy. I helped you re-connect with Chaos, you two are intertwined. You must know some way to-"

"Enough, Zagreus," Nyx said, the same tone in her voice. It was something Zagreus had never heard from Nyx, a pitying tone, sympathetic for all the wrong reasons. She put her hand on his shoulder, and instead of comfort, he felt sudden disgust.

"What do you know?" Zagreus said, suspiciously, his eyes narrowing, flitting across her face, desperate for some crack to notice, something to read about her countenance. She closed her eyes briefly.

"Zagreus, it was not meant to be." The words pierced Zagreus like a spear, as suddenly the pieces fell into place. His shoulders slumped for a moment before straightening even more rigidly.

"You took my egg," he whispered. "Why?"

Zagreus had always thought Nyx above the politics of the gods. Where Hades was underneath it, bound under the Earth, Nyx flew above it, her affairs outside their scope. Zagreus never dreamed he would see her like this.

"You do not understand, Zagreus," Nyx said. She spoke with an even tone, usually so comforting, now suffocating and condescending. "But I will explain."

"I think you'd best," Zagreus deigned to hiss. He felt betrayed, but even he knew that he was overreacting. The sliver of goodwill not snuffed out by betrayal allowed him to walk into his room with Nyx to speak with her. They sat side-by-side on the bed, reminiscent of the many times they had done so during Zagreus's upbringing.

"Chaos is a being of immense power, Zagreus," Nyx said. They both knew this, but Zagreus felt the weight of her words. "They are not of this world, though they were the spark that created it. It is hard to encapsulate how responsible Chaos is for any individual thing in this world, but suffice to say, we would not be here without their will. Still- Chaos is subject to whims. Subject to fickle emotion. Perhaps not in the same sense that you, I, or even a mortal is." Nyx opened her palm. Inside sat a dark, swirling orb. "Chaos is a god amongst gods. A god of gods. Before I, before Hades, before Zeus, and before the titans. For as Chaos creates..." She regarded the swirling orb. "Chaos destroys." She closed her hand, the orb snuffing out like a candle.

Zagreus looked from Nyx's palm to her face.

"Well, they've hardly expressed any urge to that effect," Zagreus said, unconvinced. "And they have this power whether or not I can see them. What's your point?"

"My point, dear child, is thus. Chaos lives in a realm of their own creation. A realm that is their home and their very being. Just as your body is your home and being, so too is Chaos as you know it. As you dream, Chaos lives. Whims and fancies abound in their mind, and they allow us to enter their mind as they please, allowing us to enjoy the comforts therein. Chaos is asleep in their realm. Dreaming. Our world, too, is of Chaos's whim, dreamed by a dreamer, contained in their mind, less directly, but no less potently. Much like you cannot control every aspect to your own dreams. Still..." Nyx ran a hand over the bed sheets. "A dreamer wakes, and their dream ends."

"Fine!" Zagreus was becoming impatient, now. "They dream up our reality and when they wake up we're gone. So what? This has nothing to do with us."

"Chaos does not know their own power, child. They are reckless with our world, and by allowing you into theirs, they risk everything. They risk ending the dream that is our being. I cannot allow that risk, Zagreus. Chaos must stay alone in their realm, free from outside influence. For if their dream becomes a nightmare... The dreamer would surely wake. Can you guarantee that you never would break their heart, Zagreus? That they would not yours? That entwining yourself with Chaos is not without risk?"

Zagreus didn't know what to say. In a way, he felt foolish. He could still feel the shade of the kiss Chaos had given him, and he didn't know whether anything could measure up to what he had felt. In Zagreus two things were certain. One, Nyx, his own mother by toil, was not lying. She would not deceive him, certainly not in a matter like this. Two, any doubts about his love for Chaos were quelled the instant it was clear that he could never see Chaos again.

"Zagreus?" Nyx asked, her voice soft and imploring. She put a gentle hand around his shoulder. Without thinking, he leaned slightly into her, sighing.

"You're right, mother. These forces you speak of are beyond my reckoning," Zagreus finally said. "I just wish I had known before I had become entwined."

Nyx, in a rare moment of expression, allowed herself to smile. Zagreus was not a fool, not ruled by his emotions like his Lord Father. Nyx nodded, proud of Zagreus, proud of her son, for his understanding.

"You are very wise for such a young being," Nyx said at last. "I wish that it could have been different. Chaos cannot be blamed, either, for to themself they are a mystery, too."

"How do you know all this, Nyx?" Zagreus asked. It was not a question of doubt, but a question of curiosity. Zagreus figured she owed him that much.

"I used to be like you, Zagreus. I loved Chaos, in a different way. They were my parent, and I loved them, revered them, as one does, whether conceived by birth or by miracle. But I witnessed them... Awaken. Before Earth, before Tartarus, I witnessed them hurt, and it was my fault. In a blink, all I loved was... Gone."

Zagreus's eyebrows rose.

"You saw them... Wake up? How?"

Nyx had already spoken so much, it was difficult for her to go on. She raised a hand to her temple. Zagreus sometimes forgot how delicate Nyx could be. She stood solemnly from his bed, bowing graciously.

"Since you became entwined with them, I owe you an explanation. But for now, Zagreus, I must retire. There is much to do below the world. I promise I will tell you tomorrow."

Zagreus nodded. This felt appropriate. It felt strange, hearing about Chaos from Nyx instead of Chaos. It was Nyx herself who had said that it was the prerogative of Chaos to divulge information about them, but things had changed since then. Nyx didn't appear to like it any more, and she clearly felt some personal pain at recalling the destruction of her own world at Chaos's hand. Zagreus remembered what Chaos had told him.

"You do not understand my domain, you do not understand me, you understand nothing, and yet, you do not fear this place, you do not fear me. You are neither struck by awe or by shock. You simply enter my realm and instead of absurdly demand answers, you sit calmly and observe."

Those words felt wrong, now. Zagreus was being made to fear Chaos, who placed their trust in Zagreus.

"I'm sorry, Nyx," Zagreus said aloud to his now-empty room, standing up and shouldering the Stygian Blade. He couldn't allow Chaos's trust be betrayed. He couldn't allow himself to falter, he couldn't ask Nyx to tell him of Chaos's private past... Yet he could not go without knowing it, either. Nyx meant well, but she had mistakenly re-invigorated the young prince to seek out Chaos in earnest.

"One last visit..." Zagreus promised himself, leaving into Tartarus. He was without the egg, so he would have to pay the price to enter, but he knew if he looked long enough, he would find an entrance to Chaos.

After all, if he had the patience to escape the underworld, scouring it would be no small feat.

"Where ya goin', boyo?" called Skelly as Zagreus leapt into the pit that led to Tartarus.

"Off to find a friend," Zagreus called back, disappearing into the black.


	5. Strife

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zagreus finally meets with Chaos.
> 
> TW: Mild blood

Try as he might, Zagreus couldn't find a portal. It was irritating. Usually, he was fighting to the end of Tartarus to meet with Meg or one of her foul sisters, but today was different. Instead of beelining to the exit, Zagreus meandered around Tartarus, looking for his prize instead- The Chaos gate. He'd never traveled the underworld for so long, and after routing another room, he sat down with exhaustion on a bench, head in his hands.

"Well, this isn't working," he muttered, carding a hand through his dark hair. He looked around furtively for a moment. The room was empty. Not a foul denizen nor shade in sight. He took a breath and decided to try something new.

"Ch..." He paused. He felt like a fool, but this was the only strategy he had not tried. "Chaos?"

Zagreus called the name into thin air. Maybe in Tartarus, the depths of the underworld, Zagreus could reach them.

"Chaos!" he repeated, louder now. No response. He slumped on the bench, clenching a fist. "Chaos, _please_!"

Zagreus knelt on one knee, striking the ground in frustration. A low rumble began to sound. The walls about the boy shook.

"Oh, shit-" Zagreus said, mistaking his fist's strike as the cause for the tremors. "I didn't know I was THAT strong!"

But the trembling ceased as the floor seemed to fall away, and familiar starry nothingness spread out beneath the hole, as if the hole was not in the ground, but through reality itself. A chaos gate. Zagreus was elated, punching the air, standing over the familiar portal. Unfortunately, he forgot about the absence of his egg keepsake, and thus, the air was sucked from his lungs as the Chaos gate drew from his vitality.

"Gh-!" Zagreus winced, feeling himself pried apart at the seams, then seemingly reconstructed and spat out into a familiar void.

Zagreus laid on the floor, taking a long, deep breath. These faux-stone floors. Something was so impossibly comforting about them, now that he hadn't seen them for so very long. He stood up, groggily, shaking his head.

"So. You've returned," a voice said. Something about it was so unusually chilly, this time, it sucked the comfort right out of the air around them. Zagreus looked and faced Chaos. This time, Chaos appeared in a familiar form, grey skin, their third eye sigil stamped upon their forehead, gelatinous faces constituting the area where a waist would be. The size of Chaos, though, today, was different, enormous and looming, many stories tall into the air, looking down on Zagreus with impassive eyes.

"I... I have," said Zagreus. He was stammering, wasn't he? He hated stammering, particularly in this case, for it denoted fear, perhaps not of the carnal kind, but of the interpersonal. A fear that he'd lose Chaos, or perhaps a fear he'd already lost them.

"Very well, princeling. I will not be so callous as to give you a boon and send you away. We both know this is no longer what you seek," Chaos spoke in a way Zagreus hadn't heard since their first encounter, and it broke something inside of him. He hadn't consciously realized how far Chaos had come, before, taking human shape, being inviting, trying so hard to appear human for Zagreus, and now this clipped impatience had returned. "From your somber affect, I assume you have spoken to Nyx."

"I have, Chaos. She told me many things about you, things I assume to be true. Otherwise you wouldn't have kept from me all this time," Zagreus said. He crossed his arms. "But I did not wish to hear them from her, for isn't mystery what you pride yourself on? Potential and absurdity? I thought it crass of me to ask her the details."

"So you sought me out, knowing it the risks, to, what?" Chaos said. Zagreus hated this. He had to crane his neck to look Chaos in the eyes. "Sate your curiosity? To delve into my and Nyx's shared past? To intrude on my domain as a crude probe, like some mortal, pawing about in the dark for a match?"

"No-!" Zagreus insisted, but Chaos continued speaking, the volume of their voice raising, the ground shaking beneath Zagreus's feet.

"You would come to me, into my domain and treat me like this, knowing I have chosen to distance myself?" Chaos was booming, now, Zagreus falling to his knees, clutching his ears, but the voice reverberated in his skull without relief. "Is my rejection not enough, godling, that you would petulantly demand entrance to my domain for answers, answers that exist elsewhere?"

"Chaos-" Zagreus was pleading, now, eyes swimming, the world around him swirling. His hands shook and he fell forward onto his face, unable to move, watching blood seep from behind his eyes, sputtering as Chaos shook the fabric of the world around him.

"Leave this place, Godling, you have come far too close. Your companionship was a disease, and I hereby EXPEL it."

Chaos raised a massive hand, clenching a fist in the shape of a hammer. Zagreus rolled onto his back, weakly holding a hand up to stop the blow, but it was no use. Chaos pounded through the faux-stone, breaking it to atoms, sending Zagreus hurtling downwards, past the shattered stone, crimson blood trailing behind him as he fell. His body felt broken, mangled, his head still echoing with Chaos's words. Zagreus had died so many times, before. It was a horrid sensation, the life draining from him as he lost control of his body, his world darkening. He could feel it, now, the life fading from his body, watching Chaos get smaller and smaller as he floated away from them.

Soon enough, Zagreus was back in Tartarus, spat from Chaos like gristle from the bone. The stone of Tartarus was less forgiving than Chaos's smooth stone, and it felt like Zagreus's body was on fire from the inside. He'd die, soon, he knew that, blood dripping from his face, his broken eardrums ringing, his nose clogged with his own blood. Zagreus wheezed, getting onto his hands and knees, crawling back towards the Chaos gate on the floor, which was still open.

Zagreus didn't know what compelled him to go back, to crawl to the gate once again. He wasn't thinking in the last moments before he expired, perhaps. The delirium of Chaos's howling addled his mind, possibly. But whatever the case, Zagreus crawled onto the gate and laid down on his stomach. The gate then did its foul work, sapping Zagreus of his final scraps of life before tossing the lifeless carcass into Chaos.

The final thought that struck Zagreus as he felt his body torn apart, atom by atom by the Chaos gate was peaceful. There was a certain peace in Death, a moment of respite before he awoke back in the House Of Hades....

But Zagreus didn't re-awaken in the pool of blood like usual. He awoke in Chaos, moreover, he awoke still beaten and bleeding.

"Ngh... Guess I can't die in a realm with no Hades..." muttered Zagreus to himself. He moved his leg. Nothing. His hand. Nothing. He was floating in the emptiness of Chaos, now. Looks like Chaos either wasn't around or didn't notice the suffering godling spinning in the void. "Or... Maybe Thanatos is the reason I die... Or maybe... Huh-"

Zagreus spat blood from his throat, watching the crimson stain spiral away into nothingness.

Nothingness.

"Chaos?" Zagreus croaked. No response.

Zagreus felt a strange conviction that he had no name for. He didn't know what had driven him back into Chaos, he didn't know what madness had seized him. After all, Chaos had ejected him from their realm after raining pain down on Zagreus, why should Zagreus crawl so pathetically back? Because he was in love, perhaps? That couldn't be all. Love was a part, surely, but there was something deeper, a feeling Zagreus couldn't place.

He didn't know why even now, he wasn't afraid of Chaos. Gods and mortals feared death, but the prince was a veteran of it, though he didn't fancy himself as such. He was not afraid of pain, nor blood, nor death, so to the prince, when Chaos howled and ejected him, even after the pain of Chaos's power coursed through the godling, liquefying his insides as though Chaos's very words boiled... Chaos's words were not that of a proto-God, distilling their divine wrath upon the lesser. They were the words of pain, a pain that Zagreus couldn't abide, a pain unlike the pain that broke his insides presently.

The pain of loneliness.

Chaos's cries were not the cries of a terrible otherworldly being, but of a frightened child. A cry Zagreus had made in his own youth, though, perhaps not to such disastrous bodily effect. For the first time, Zagreus pondered as he squeezed his bleeding eyes shut, he saw that pain in someone else. A kindred spirit, as absurd as that may be.

"Chaos...?" Zagreus implored into the void once again. All quiet.

Zagreus remembered the times he had petulantly howled through tears at his father to get out of his room. The fear of Father finding his journals. The fear of Nyx seeing his paintings. Yet, the yearning to be acknowledged by these same people. Pushing away what Zagreus needed most. He wondered... Was Chaos the same?

And so Zagreus floated, in a realm with no death, no sleep, his breaking body limp like a ragdoll.


	6. Obliteration

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chaos tells a tale of creation and destruction.

"Hey, have you seen Zagreus, lately?" Hypnos mused, lifting his curly-haired head from the seat he'd been napping on. "Usually it only takes that guy an hour or two to get killed, but he's been past the House for like..." Hypnosed paused. "Since I've been asleep!"

"I have not, no," Nyx said, concern worrying her features. "Perhaps he made it to the surface again."

"Pah," came a voice from across the room. Hades sat at his desk, chin resting on his hand. "The boy hasn't so much as left Tartarus. If he had, Alecto and Megara would have reported back to me by now. Perhaps he's losing his edge, cowering in some foul corner of the underworld. I predict he will be back by tonight. Perhaps is the planets deign to align, he'll shed his foolish plight."

Hades seemed amused by this, but Nyx looked worried.

"I'm sure he'll be back soon, mom!" Hypnos said, cheerfully, though the edge of his words was shaved off, seeing his mother's worried face.

"I'm sure you're right," Nyx said, absently, staring towards Zagreus's room.

===

Zagreus had been floating for a while. It was beginning to go from tranquil to boring. His body was still largely broken from Chaos's argument, so he couldn't even amuse himself by moving around, not that it would get him anywhere; no ground beneath his feet, no features around him, he was simply suspended in nothingness.

"Chaos, come on-" Zagreus called out, voice hoarse. "I came to talk, don't shut a fella out like this."

No response. Zagreus wondered if Chaos could hear him. Would he float here, forever? That was a scary thought. Floating in a void without air or food, without even the ability to die? Zag shuddered.

"Er. Don't mean to be a pest, Chaos, friend, but we really ought to chat. Or at least, maybe get me out of here?"

At long last, Zagreus heard a voice. It took no form and made no sound, but it filled his head. Thankfully, Chaos was no longer shouting, so the reverberations of Chaos's voice from within Zagreus were calming.

"You came back," they said, simply.

"I came back," Zagreus affirmed.

"Why?" Chaos asked. Looks like Chaos didn't feel chatty in the traditional sense, but they weren't trying to violently tear Zagreus apart inside-out nor kicking him from their domain, so Zagreus considered this an improvement.

"Not sure," Zagreus admitted. He didn't feel chatty either, his throat hoarse from coughing up blood. "Everyone has their bad days."

There was a long pause.

"You should go," Chaos said. Zagreus laughed.

"I keep hearing that, but apparently I'm too stupid to get it through this thick head of mine." Zagreus curled up in on himself, fetal, floating in nothingness.

"You are hurt," Chaos said, "I thought that alone would deter you from wishing to speak to me."

"Yeah, well. Like I said, mate. Thick head."

Beneath Zagreus, a single white slab appeared. It was featureless, a perfect, thin square, but Zagreus appeared to be able to lay down upon it.

"I do not often have to do this, but... I apologize." Chaos's words seemed to heal Zagreus, easing his wounds. Blood no longer dripped from him.

"Thanks for that," Zagreus said, wincing as he sat up on the white floor. "Didn't know you could just patch me up like that. How come you never did that when I was going through the underworld?"

"You never asked," Chaos replied. Zagreus laughed at that, choosing to lay down, closing his eyes.

"Fair enough," he chuckled, "I'll probably forget to when next time rolls around."

Chaos didn't laugh, but there was a long pause that was more comfortable than the last. Chaos broke the silence and the mood with a much softer voice.

"You really should leave, Zagreus," they said. "I am meant to be alone. It is better for me. It is better for you."

"I know, Chaos," Zagreus said. He didn't know how to comfort the being, so he patted the white floor affectionately. "I know we can't... Be together, as much as it pains me to admit. Nyx told me how dangerous it would be, but... I didn't want to hear it from her. I wanted to hear it from you."

Chaos didn't speak, so Zagreus continued.

"For my sake, but for yours, too. Something doesn't seem right about someone else being allowed to tell stories about your past. About... What happened."

The white floor shrank, and Zagreus seemed to spill off of it and back into the void. A dark hole seemed to open up before him, it looked the same as the Chaos gates he entered this realm through, but much bigger. Within it, images swirled, of Nyx, of a verdant and lush forest, of Chaos in their grey form, watching over them.

"I have not thought about such affairs for quite some time, Zagreus," Chaos said. Their voice was as stoic as ever, but there was a laborious quality to it. Zagreus wondered if it was pain in the same way he felt it. "The first being I ever made was Nyx. She was the first being with a beginning. I made her untold millennia ago, so long that measuring the time would be fruitless. For a long time, she and I were all that existed, all that was. She was not part of your world, but a different world, one I populated for her. Trees, water, creatures, I made it all for her to reside in."

Zagreus watched the portal. Nyx looked so different back then, wearing a much more simple black gown, kneeling to pet a creature that looked absolutely alien to Zagreus.

"She was happy. She would use her abilities to move the very sun in the sky, darkening all around her. Such was her power. I gave it to her, though I did not choose it for her. I have power over creation, but often my creations take a life of their own. Trees grow into new trees. Animals into new creatures. And Nyx grew into her own being. It was unpredictable, chaotic- I would not have had it any other way."

In the portal, Chaos showed Nyx drawing a circle on the ground. To her delight, a Chaos gate opened inside it.

"Eventually, though I watched over her, she came to know of me. She learned of a way to open a gate into my realm. The same gates you use are of her design, though neither of us entirely control where they appear."

The portal now displayed Nyx and Chaos talking, Nyx laughing, a far cry from the Nyx Zagreus knew.

"She would leave her world to visit me, often. She had the love of a daughter, something that fascinated me. I longed to take care of her, for she was my own creation. But..."

The portal shifted. It was night on Nyx's world, she was backed against a tree, pinned there, eyes fearful, gazing at a terrifying creature with a horrid visage. It slashed her neck.

"She came to me one day in tears. I did not like seeing her cry. Something in the world I made for her had grown to attack her. A fearful animal."

Nyx was shown sobbing, clinging to Chaos like a child to its parent. Chaos inside the portal raised their hand and snapped their fingers.

"I destroyed her world for hurting her."

The portal before Zagreus disappeared, leaving him floating in nothingness again.

"When I told her what I'd done, she was horrified. I was confused. Her world had hurt her. I destroyed the pain. I didn't yet understand. She was distraught, she cursed me, she begged me to undo what I'd done. She pleaded with me to put her back where she belonged, but... It could never be."

Chaos's voice was strained, now, soft, as though it was coming from underwater. Was this pain for Chaos? Sadness? Zagreus didn't know, but there was sympathy he understood in himself.

"I made her so many worlds. I made her forests, deserts, I made her space, planets, stars, things of which you could never dream, but... One cannot re-make what is lost. She finally settled in your world. Earth. Eventually, the titans ruled, then the Gods, and now she resides in Tartarus, her own domain. She did not visit me for... So long. I later learned she was not able, and I thank you for reuniting us, but..."

Chaos was silent. Zagreus spoke, this time.

"She doesn't love you like she used to. I've seen it. She talks like you're a God to her. Nothing like what was before."

It was a long moment before Chaos's voice rang out.

"Yes."

Zagreus was quiet. Chaos was, too. For a while, Zagreus floated in the void, pondering over what he'd seen. Losing everything, his whole world... He could imagine that. Even though he was trying to escape the underworld, he would be distraught if the place ceased to be.

"Zagreus, you see now. You understand this segment of my past. My one truest failing. I can never be your equal. I must remain on high, away from you and your affairs. I am not of your world, and destruction is trivial to me, as you breathe and walk, I create and destroy, how can anyone hope to feel like an equal in my presence? I, who am above Zeus, who wields the power to create and destroy? I am peerless, I am alone, and this is how it must be."

"Sorry, mate," Zagreus said. "That's not my takeaway at all."

"What?" Chaos's voice was curious. Zagreus had learned to parse so much from Chaos from their time together, it was satisfying to hear Chaos register shock.

"Sounds to me like you learned your lesson, mate. You felt horrible destroying Nyx's universe."

"Learned my... Lesson?"

Zagreus grinned. It was a roguish expression, one that looked rather silly, as he had no one to look at with it.

"Of course. Mistakes that are in the past are just that. In the past. Tell me. If you could go back in time... You wouldn't destroy Nyx's world, right?"

"Back in... Time?"

"Sure!" Zagreus gestured in the void drawing a line with his finger. "Like if you could somehow fix what you did. You'd never destroy another world like that again, am I correct?"

"I did try to fix it, but it was futile-"

"No no, mate, look," Zagreus said, cutting off the primordial being. "If you make a mistake, then we beings learn from those mistakes. You're not as different as you might think. You wouldn't just destroy Earth because something bad happened to ME there, would you?"

"Zagreus, the fact that I have learned from something does not affect that it has been done. I'm not sure what you mean by this."

"Just because you did something wrong in the past doesn't mean you'll do it in the future, Chaos," Zagreus said. "I know it's not easy, but if you don't forgive yourself, you'll never be able to have anything like what you had before."

Chaos didn't have an answer to that. Zagreus floated in nothingness, crossing his arms. He could feel it, though he couldn't see Chaos, he could sense that Chaos was mulling his words over, considering something they'd never considered.

"Forgive... Myself." Chaos repeated the words like they were a new, strange animal. "I... Would like to ruminate on this. I'm not sure what to make of this. I need to be alone."

"Fine, fine, but... Chaos. Promise me something, can you do that?" Zagreus seemed pleased with himself. Elated, even.

"State your proposed promise, Zagreus," Chaos replied.

"Let me visit again."

Chaos paused and Zagreus amusedly imagined them grumbling begrudgingly.

"Very well," Chaos finally stated. And with those words, Zagreus was back on the floor of Tartarus.

"Gods, did I really bleed that much?"

Zagreus looked on the floor at the blood he'd shed in his earlier escapade, wincing.

"So it seems," emanated a familiar voice. Zagreus turned, eyes widening. Nyx emerged from the shadows behind him.

Looks like he had some explaining to do.


	7. Heartbreak

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nyx gives her side of the story to Zagreus.

Zagreus had a way with people. He didn't see it himself, for Zagreus was not taught these virtues, but he had a way with the many denizens of the underworld that defied understanding. Perhaps it was his godly power, perhaps it was his unique disregard for death. Perhaps it was how he was raised, among a diverse array of people- No matter the case, Zagreus understood people, often with a single glance. He intuited their mood, their hopes, their dreams, and beyond divulging them, he understood them.

When he first came upon Patroclus, he saw a man in pain at great loss. When he first came upon Euridice in Asphodel, he heard the pain beneath her song. And when he saw Nyx standing over him after emerging from the realm of Chaos, he saw a woman betrayed and terrified.

"Zagreus," she said, invoking his name harshly, a way he hadn't heard since his youth. He winced. This was far more serious than his childhood follies, of course, and Nyx wasn't intent to simply scold him, but wrench him to his feet by the shoulder. "Explain yourself."

"Mother, I-" Zagreus caught himself. He hadn't called Nyx mother in a long time. "Nyx," he corrected, more solemnly. "I just wanted to visit Chaos, nothing more. I wanted to hear their side to the story."

Nyx held onto Zagreus's shoulder, eyeing him slowly. Her face was unreadable, as ever, but Nyx never quite understood that her body betrayed her emotions more than her face, no matter how practiced her stoicism was.

"Fine," she said, at last. She sat on the bench and watched Zagreus expectantly. "Then it's time I tell you mine."

Zagreus sat hesitantly, nodding. It felt so strange, talking to his mother for the first time like adults. He had been one for a while, of course, but when he looked upon Nyx he saw only the woman who had raised him, but now he saw a more complete picture, a woman who had emotions and a past. He felt lucky, briefly, to have had Nyx when his birth mother, Persephone was gone.

"What did Chaos impart to you, child?" Nyx asked, patiently.

"Well, they told me of..." Zagreus hesitated. He didn't want to bring up something that might bring up awful memories, but he swallowed and spoke anyway. "...your old world. How they destroyed it. How they felt. How our world came to be."

Nyx nodded. She shut her eyes, taking a long, deep breath.

"My old world was wonderful. Spontaneous. Full of life, and joy. The beasts of that world were not wary of me like they are in this world. I'm sure that was a design made by Chaos." Nyx rolled up her sleeve, revealing a long scar in her pale flesh. "And one day, after a millennia of sport in the realm they made for me, a beast attacked."

"Right," said Zagreus, "And then they destroyed that world, fearing you'd be hurt more."

"Yes," said Nyx, simply. "I could enter Chaos's realm whenever I pleased. Back then, I did often, sometimes for a long time. My world was lovely, there was so much to discover, so much to see, but Chaos was the only... Being I knew. Beasts made of the world were just that. Beasts. I had no occasion to use language, there, but with Chaos, we would talk for days." Nyx leaned her head against the seafoam-green pillar behind her. "And when I told them of what happened... I came to them crying like an injured child, tears falling from my eyes, blood from my arm. Chaos must have been the same concerned parent. For the first time in my life, I... Saw them enter their own creation. They entered the world they made for me. I thought they were going to strike down the beast that did me harm, but-"

Zagreus put a hand on Nyx's hand, watching a single tear roll down her cheek. Zagreus had never seen her cry, and it would be so strikingly beautiful, with the starry night rendered whole in the little black droplet, if not for Nyx's sadness.

"-they reached out their finger and snapped, and like a candle being extinguished..." Nyx snapped her own fingers. "...My world was gone."

Zagreus had heard the story twice, but he didn't mind. For Chaos and Nyx's re-telling was so starkly different, Chaos's of repentance and Nyx's of tragedy.

"I watched their face when it happened. It was calm, peaceful. Placid. The world that had been mine for time immemorial had been erased with an ease that shook me to my core. I looked at my hands to make sure they had not erased me, too. And when their foul deed was finished they looked to me in the empty expanse and asked what I would like my new world to be like. Destroying all that life... All that universe. The planet, the stars, and all that lay beyond. It was nothing to them."

Zagreus thought the story was over, but Nyx had more to say.

"Then they began to make world after world, and that shook me even more. Worlds that were more, worlds that were less. Snowy expanses, deserts, trees wrought of metal, things I couldn't dream of where just... Whims to them. And when I finally settled in one, on Earth, where we stand beneath, I saw... People. Beings. Speaking, trading, existing. Mortals. Titans. Gods. I was mortified. I had always felt special to Chaos... Like I was their masterwork. Their favorite. Special. When I found I was not, I dug my way beneath the Earth and there I stayed."

Nyx gesticulated at the area surrounding them.

"I made, too, I tried to create like Chaos had, but I, unlike them, could only make the formless. Until your father came and helped me, of course. Even still, I could not make... Beings. It was years before I visited Chaos again, I demanded to know their game. They themself didn't know what I meant, for Chaos cannot control their creations for long. I demanded to know how to create, and they didn't know, either. But they did give me another gift... Another being."

Zagreus nodded. He actually had a guess as to who Nyx meant.

"You mean uncle Erebus." he said.

"I do," she said. "Erebus was like me, a being born of Chaos, in the form of a man. I thought he was beautiful. We went back to Earth and created beings, your good friend Thanatos, Hypnos as well. Darkness and Night. We were finally able to create."

"Where has that fellow gone off to, anyway?" Zagreus asked. He had seldom seen Erebus in Hades, only glimpsing him with Nyx once or twice in his youth. Nyx laughed.

"Erebus does not tread the underworld since your father came. Your father brought with him fire and stone to light the caverns beneath. Even the realm of Erebus, from which Erebus took his name, has been lit up and used."

"I fought Charon there," shuddered Zagreus, remembering his last fight with the mute boatman.

"In either case, one day, I looked around at this world, at all the creatures and beings in it. Hades. Erebus. My children, Hypnos, Thanatos, the fates, the furies... I saw them all and I couldn't forget what Chaos had done. I couldn't forget how they had erased everything... And I promised myself never to go back."

"That's why Chaos couldn't communicate with you," Zagreus said.

"Yes... When I learned that, you helped me re-unite with them. I thought my fear had abated, and I even found myself enjoying seeing them again, but-"

Zagreus finished her thought, hanging his head.

"Then I began to fraternize with them."

"Yes," Nyx said. She shared sympathy with Zagreus, placing a hand on his cheek. "I never imagined they would fall in love. I thought it impossible for them, but it is nonetheless dangerous. I'm sure you understand why you must never visit them again."

Zagreus looked at Nyx. He had a choice to make. Never visit Chaos for the safety of the entire world? Or reach out and risk everything for love?

"I... Understand." Zagreus said, hesitantly. Nyx smiled, believing this statement to have more weight than Zagreus gave to it. She stood from the bench, regal and elegant as ever before.

"Good," she said, blinking into nothingness, returning, no doubt, to Hades's house.

Zagreus finally left the room in Tartarus.

"Well... I'm here. Might as well keep fighting my way out." Zagreus still held Stygius, cracking his neck. Looks like Chaos patched him up just fine. Before he took so much as a step, though, a familiar sound filled his ears. A whooshing, the tell-tale noise of a God of Olympus sending him a boon. From the heart-shaped sigil, it appeared to be from Aphrodite. Zagreus straightened his laurels, tossing his shoulders back. "In the name of Hades-" he said.

"Well, well, WELL, dear! Long time no see," came the alluring voice of Aphrodite. Zagreus, in spite of himself, blushed, grinning like a fool.

"It's lovely to see you, Aphrodite," he said, bashfully. He had long since lost the shame in harmlessly flirting with Aphrodite, coming to understand everyone seemed to do it. To his surprise, though, Aphrodite cut him off.

"Prince, you MUST tell me- I can FEEL it inside you. Is it true? You're in love?"

===

Back in the House of Hades, Nyx reappeared.

"Well?" said Hades, accusingly.

"Zagreus is making his way out of Tartarus. He was waylaid by other affairs." Nyx never lied. It was impossible to tell if she couldn't, she didn't, or she just did not need to. In any case, Hades had come to expect her obfuscating language, and nodded, approvingly, not asking anything else.

"Such a willful boy," Hades spat, continuing to write in his ledger. "He never does what he's told."

"Perhaps," Nyx said. "I think he is more obedient than you give him credit for, Lord Hades."

"Pah!" Hades scoffed, putting down his quill pen. "He has always minded you, Nyx, but mark my words. Some day soon, you will see the error of your ways."

Nyx didn't say anything, and Hades was surprised to see a look of worry cross the Goddess of the Night's face.

"You are wrong," Nyx said simply. Hades raised his eyebrows. She seldom spoke to him like this. He went sullenly back to his writing, but his words still filled Nyx with dread.


	8. Storge

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aphrodite tells Zagreus a story about her son.

Aphrodite's shade was always a welcome sight in Hades. Her shape stood out starkly against the narrow passages and dim light of Tartarus, and Zagreus felt his eyes more at ease every moment he gazed at her. Still, it was a familial love, a platonic gaze that he used, for Aphrodite was still his kin. After all, Aphrodite was goddess of more love than just romance.

"Come now, little godling, don't be shy! Tell me, who has captured your affection?" Aphrodite teased. Zagreus stammered and sputtered. On top of being embarrassed, he now had to explain his affection for a primordial deity.

"It's... Complicated." Zagreus's words were painfully slow and careful, fueling Aphrodite's curiosity.

"It's ALWAYS complicated, Zagreus, don't be coy! I am the goddess of love, after all. Well. In part."

Her admission gave Zagreus pause.

"In part?" he asked. He shifted his weight to his other leg. Aphrodite wasn't really here and she couldn't see Zagreus, presently, as he was too deep in the underworld, but they could hear each other, and Zagreus could see her.

"Oh, yes, my lovely son, Eros," Aphrodite said.

"I didn't know you and Hephaestus had children," Zagreus said.

"Aha, well-" Aphrodite coughed sheepishly. "Eros is not Hephaestus's child, you see. Eros's birth was, ah. Complicated!"

Much like that word inspired curiosity in Aphrodite, so too did it make Zagreus curious. He smirked, and though Aphrodite could not see it, she could hear it.

"Well, then. If you wish to know of my paramour, then tell me the tale of Eros," Zagreus said.

"Oho! A deal. How godly of you, Zagreus. Very well."

Zagreus decided to lay down, on the floor of Tartarus. Aphrodite couldn't see him, after all, so she wouldn't interpret his gesture of repose as rude.

"Alrighty, Aphrodite," Zagreus said, "Let's hear it."

"As if I haven't heard that one before, Prince," Aphrodite said, though she did sound amused. "Very well. As conceptions go, Eros's is quite complicated. I do hope my tale doesn't bore you."

"Complicated conception? Did cousin Athena not spring from Zeus's forehead?"

"Ha!" Aphrodite laughed. "Too true, but you'll soon see why Eros is a particular case. Oh, I DO hope you meet him, you two would no doubt get along. Now then..." Aphrodite paused, crossing her arms pensively. "Hephaestus is my husband, and I love him thusly, but there are more types of love than between husband and wife. The marriage was not my choice, but the choice of Hera, who is your aunt."

"I have an aunt?" Zagreus cocked his head.

"You have. You have another, in fact, Demeter is sibling to Zeus and your father as well." Aphrodite continued. "Hephaestus I grew to love over time. People call him ugly, but I don't see that at all, you know. But before that, I loved another. Ares. For a while, our affair was most scandalous, for not only do Hephaestus and Ares get along, but Hera would have been in conniptions if she'd found us out!" Aphrodite laughed the long laugh of bygone ordeals. "But Hephaestus knew something was wrong. He has such an even temper. He approached me one day and I confessed to him, you see. I thought he would be heartbroken! But to my shock, he bid me good tidings and blessed our affair. I still feel guilty for it, for he is loyal to me alone."

"Hephaestus seems like quite the gentleman."

"Indeed, Zagreus. I am divinely lucky to have him. For Ares- Well. While our tryst is passionate, he would never deign to marry me, and I have no wish to marry him. Our affair is not simply physical, of course, but it is, to say the least, fraught."

"I've met Hades many times, my lady," Zagreus said, wincing. "An abrasive fellow.

"Too true," Aphrodite agreed. "But none the less, as Hephaestus blessed our affair, I was soon with child. The child of Ares. Of both love and war. Passion. We named him Eros."

"This doesn't sound complicated so far, my lady," Zagreus said. "I was under the impression that this is how children were typically made."

"Oh yes! But Ares's child had another parent. A third. A third I wasn't aware of." Aphrodite didn't seem scandalized by this. She struck Zagreus as particularly blase about her various children and trysts. "You see, Ares worships the ancient being Chaos. Have you heard of them?"

Zagreus's eyes widened. He was suddenly very stiff, and grateful that Aphrodite couldn't see him.

"I have... Heard whispers about them, my lady," he said, trying to affect a casual tone.

"Well, Ares, for so long, thought Chaos was a deity of destruction. A means for death, for war, which Ares, as you're aware, loves quite a bit. He planted his seed within me, but another, as well, that of Chaos. He kept this from me for quite some time, I am not sure why. I think it was due to his disappointment."

"Ares was disappointed in you?"

"No, no! I bore the child and we worked together to raise it. Eros, however, took more after me, a fact which baffled Ares to no end. He was disappointed in his son."

Zagreus bit his lip. He was a little jealous, truth be told, asking the question stuck in his mind.

"Was Chaos... Present?"

"What do you mean, dear boy?"

"For conception. You mentioned their seed."

"Oh! Goodness, that's a personal question, Zagreus!" Aphrodite nonetheless answered, laughing her musical laugh. "No, Aries enhanced himself with Chaos's blessing, nothing more."

"Ah," Zagreus was relieved. "Good."

"Good? Little Godling, if you fear for me, don't worry." Aphrodite continued. "When Eros was older, it became clear what had happened. Eros was not just our child, but also part of Chaos themself. An ancient being, a small part of Chaos themself, seeded in me, combined with Ares and I to be given life, you see."

"So Eros wasn't born, he was just given form by his birth?"

"Precisely," Aphrodite said. Her promise was true, after all. That was a strange circumstance, a being as old as and part of Chaos, born of Godly parents, simultaneously. "Aries was fiercely angry, at first. He had envisioned an heir, you see, someone to take the mantle of a god of war. Unfortunately, Eros, it seems, seemed to divert Aries's heated passion into other matters. Now, Eros is the God of sex, not to mention one of my noble retinue. A god responsible for creation, not destruction, as Aries wished. It seems he misjudged Chaos, after all."

The story was over, and Zagreus sat in silence. He'd gotten more than he bargained for, here, learning about his lover's estranged sort-of children. He didn't know quite what to say, and it made what came next all the more awkward.

"So, princeling. I've told you that dusty tale. Now tell me yours! Who is it you love?"

"Well..." Zagreus sat up, looking at Aphrodite, though she couldn't see him. "Ironically enough... Chaos."

===

Chaos had no concept of time in their realm. It was a void, a place where nothing happened except that which was Chaos's will. Still, it was lonely. They already missed Zagreus painfully, in a way unique to a being of unimaginable potential. Still, they were expecting a guest.

"Hello, Eros," Chaos said as Eros materialized in Chaos's realm.

Eros was a curious being. A part of Chaos that had found its way to Nyx's Earth through the womb of a goddess.

"Chaos," Eros said, his voice even. "I understand you will have need of me, soon."

Chaos and Eros were deceptively similar. Chaos manifested often with the same light-grey skin that covered Eros, and the wavy hair was the same, too. Their mannerisms were quite different, though they shared certain quirks. Eros spoke seductively and with a confidence that Chaos lacked, but it was intoned with the same detached passion that Chaos spoke with. They were mutually aware of each other's shared legacy, but seldom spoke of it. For why would one want to speak to oneself about things they already knew to be true.

"That assumption is premature," said Chaos. "I thought I would soon need your power, but I am no longer sure that is the case."

"Really?" Eros said, cocking a brow. "Very well, then, Chaos. I will return to Earth. But, pardon the curiosity, who is it?"

Chaos blinked.

"You don't know?" Chaos said simply. They were under the assumption that Eros and Chaos shared memories as well as a being.

"I could hazard a guess," Eros smirked.

"Do not act so smug, Eros," said Chaos, a stern warning, one which Eros chuckled at.

"It is just fascinating. You gave me and my power to Aries and Aphrodite because you thought you would not need me."

"I did not think I would. There has never been a being I... Desired. Had I known, I would not have given you away, but I do not regret my decision."

"Very well, Chaos," Eros said. He felt like he'd won a long argument, and Chaos felt a little annoyed that they felt like they'd lost one. "Call upon me again if you need me."

Eros disappeared, reminding Chaos acutely why they didn't like visitors. Chaos felt themself changing. Once, so long ago, they had cast away Eros, discarded that part of themself, imaging sex as of no use to them. Now, things were different, and Eros was allowed to be above them for it. Chaos was changing, allowing people in.

And they weren't sure they liked it.


	9. Motherhood

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zagreus meets with both of his mothers.

Zagreus had been so caught up with Chaos as of late, he'd forgotten about his mission. His cycle, his reason to be.

"You're late, boy," Hades said, his shoulders covered with his robe.

"Yes, well, I would be more punctual perhaps if you called off your horrible denizens. Seriously, Alecto tried to tie me up this time." Zagreus said grumpily, feeling the cool breeze of the overworld winter lap his face.

"I warned you, boy. Stop this foolishness or I will be forced to stop you myself." Hades turned to face Zagreus, holding his mighty spear with white knuckles. "Even if you are able to pass me, you will simply die regardless. Your fate is all but sealed."

"Perhaps, but if it means I can see mother again, I'd fight you a hundred times over."

Hades cast off his cloak. Zagreus thought he looked tired, today.

"Very well. Then I shall make it one hundred and one."

Their fight, as it was beginning to become a routine, was no less brutal than usual. Zagreus was left panting, face-down in the biting snow after felling his own father. How many times had they fought, now? A dozen? Each time, Zagreus took a moment before moving on, but the moment was never long, as he had to move fast to see hit mother before the curse of Styx took him.

He walked to his mother's house, as usual, and, as usual, he knelt reverently before her. The snow gave way into a verdant garden, one which Zagreus so desperately wished he could taste the fruits of.

"Mother," he said, feeling her help him to his feet.

"You seem particularly tired, this day, my son," said Persephone, helping him into a chair. "Your father is still standing in your way?"

"Yes," said Zagreus, leaning on her. She was so soft, so matronly, it was as though he could feel their blood-bonds in a tactile way. He could feel her love palpably, and it made every trek out of the infernal depths of Hades worth it.

"He was always so impossibly stubborn," she sighed, helping him sit. "But your fatigue is not just from your wounds. Something is on your mind."

It wasn't an accusation, of course, but it was a firm, motherly command. An oblique way of demanding what was wrong. Zagreus didn't feel like lying, nor think of a reason that he should, but he hesitated.

"It's an affair of love, I suppose, mother," he admitted, coughing. The curse had not taken him, yet, so they had time.

"Ha!" Persephone laughed. Zagreus had never heard her laugh before, and it was infectious. "Yes, I suppose I'm not the best judge of that sort of affair, I'm afraid, if my marriage to your father is anything to go by. But if you wish to talk, I will listen, Zagreus."

"For our brief time together, I'll keep it painfully simple," Zagreus said. An explanation in full would no doubt fill all the surface-time he had. "I believe I love someone who I should not. Someone dangerous."

"Then I'm afraid you take after me," Persephone said, laughing again, more quietly. "Do you fear that you won't be able to be with them, or do you fear that you won't be able to stop loving them?"

Zagreus didn't know. He could only shrug.

"I don't know what I want. Their danger is real, I know that to be true, but I still can't justify to myself straying from them. Then, I feel selfish for weighing the world against my own love and care for them."

"The whole world?? Zagreus, don't be dramatic," Persephone didn't mean to be dismissive, but Zagreus smiled anyway. "We are slaves to our hearts, Zagreus, we cannot be beings without them. If we did not love and if that love was not hard, we would have nothing to strive for, no matter how painful it may seem. You already know which action you're going to take, and there is no commiserating or justification that needs doing. We do what is right because we feel it to be right. Even if it did endanger the world, to damn with it."

Zagreus coughed, feeling his chest seize. He had learned to gauge his time left by how much pain he felt, and time was short, now.

"I think I understand, mother. We cannot control what our hearts feel, but we must obey them."

"Indeed," Persephone said, her voice a little sad. Zagreus felt as though the advice she'd given was not just for him, but for herself, too. There was a dual desperation in her voice. One, that she was trying to convince herself her words' truth, and two, to make Zagreus avoid her mistakes. "And if you do not follow your heart, you will forever regret it."

Zagreus clutched his chest. He couln't speak. Persephone had gotten used to seeing her son die, but it never got easier. Still, she put on a strong face and laid a hand on his back, rubbing gently.

"I will see you soon, again, Zagreus. Your heart led you into my arms, and it will again. Follow that heart, my son."

"Mother, I-" Zagreus spat blood onto Persephone's dress. "I love you."

The next thing Zagreus knew, he was crawling from the blood pool in the House of Hades.

"Heya!" said Hypnos cheerfully as Zagreus passed the familiar halls. "Missed us that much, huh? Welcome back!" Zagreus wasn't listening. His eyes were aflame, his conviction re-ignited. Those eyes met Nyx's down the hall.

Nyx gazed at her adopted son, so full of pride and excitement, and for the first time in his life, those eyes scared her. For now, instead of an intent on finding his mother, they were on something else.

"I told you it was fruitless, boy," Hades jeered from his desk. Zagreus, to his surprise, ignored the King of the Underworld, marching past and towards his room. Nyx watched him, eyes narrow, lips slid into a thin, terse line.

"Where are you going, Zagreus?" she entered his room after him, standing with tense shoulders over her son.

"Nyx," said Zagreus, in a tone that made Nyx nearly flinch. "I know of your past with Chaos, but I cannot keep myself from them. I have to tell them how I feel."

Zagreus stepped into the courtyard overlooking Tartarus, where he kept his weapons. Nyx followed, standing in front of the exit that led into the Underworld proper. Zagreus's heart thudded. He didn't want to think it had come to this. Nyx reached into her cloak with both hands, withdrawing two black knives. Her face was impassive, but her jaw was clenched.

"I cannot allow you to risk us for your love, Zagreus," she said. Pain coated every syllable she spoke. "If you are seeking Chaos, then I cannot allow to abide you leaving here."

Zagreus gripped Stygius tightly, and for good measure, took up a shield, too, emblazoned with a purple eye. Chaos's shield, used by mortal heroes and Gods alike.

"I do not want to fight you, mother."

Zagreus held his arms tightly. He felt a pit in his chest. Persephone was right. If he didn't follow his heart, he'd forever regret it, but in following that heart, now he had estranged both of his parents, who, despite their antagonism, he loved, deeply.

"I should have listened to your father," Nyx said softly. Those words cut through Zagreus worse than any blade. "Your impetuousness leads to ruin. I never thought you would disobey me like this, after all I have done in your name. If you leave, Chaos will bring ruin to us all."

"You're wrong about them, Nyx," Zagreus said through gritted teeth. "They aren't like they once were. They care. I love them."

"You do not know what love is," Nyx retorted. The same, single tear Zagreus had seen so soon before rolled down her cheek. "Stand down. Seek your mother. Do not do this."

The duo stared at each other, daring the other to concede, not just daring, but hoping, pleading. Neither wanted to fight the other, but as Zagreus took a step towards the exit, it was clear.

They would have to fight for it.


	10. Tumult

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nyx and Zagreus do battle, and Zagreus is quickly overpowered.

"Have you seen Zagreus, lately, Meg?" asked Hypnos, taking a break from his duties at the House's kitchens. Megara scowled.

"I'm not sure who alleged that I was Zagreus's keeper, but I'm quite tired of being asked that question." Megara took a long draw from a suspect-looking chalice.

"Touchy!" Said Hypnos, raising his hands defensively. "I see your point, though. Must get old, having to report back to Hades about him."

"Too much so," grumbled Megara. "I do as our Lord bids, but I am not required by my servitude to enjoy it nor speak well on it."

"You're pretty well-spoken for a fury!" Hypnos said, allowing himself a seat, despite the fact that both he and Megara knew he was unwelcome.

"That's not the compliment you think it is, you impudent little-" Megara didn't have time for her insult, because at that moment an impact shook the House. Shades looked up from their work and Megara's chalice spilled onto the floor. She stood with the diligence of a trained warrior and turned her head to the source of the noise- Zagreus's room.

Another impact followed, and the door to the Prince's room flung open, the Prince's body hurled through it like a ragdoll. In his right hand, Stygius, in his left, the Shield of Chaos.

Half of the attending shades dashed for cover, the other half peeked over that same cover in curiosity.

"Has a beast from Tartarus gotten out?!" Hypnos asked, hysterically. Meg drew her whip, confused. Zagreus never brought his fight into Hades's House. Something was afoot. Soon after Zagreus's limp figure emerged Nyx, floating a foot in the air, twirling two obsidian daggers in her fingers.

"Mom?!" Hypnos demanded, but his words were lost upon Nyx, who, using one hand, raised Zagreus into the air by the neck, and with the other, pierced Zagreus's heart with one of her knives. She then let go of Zagreus, letting him fall to the ground with a dull thud. A sickening gash in Zagreus's heart formed where the blade was stuck. Every shade, every god, every being in attendance watched Nyx with utter fear. None among them had seen Nyx so much as raise her hand, much less against her beloved Zagreus, which it was no secret she loved like her own blood.

The gash in Zagreus's chest wasn't bloody in the least. In fact, it was black, like his skin was of porcelain and an obsidian crack had been formed inside it.

"What is the meaning of this?!" demanded Hades, thundering down the hall. The congregation HAD seen Hades angry before, so the sight of the hotheaded King was almost a welcome sight. "Nyx, what have you done?!"

Nyx turned to her lord, eyes filled with starry tears. Zagreus was limp on the floor. Hades's jaw was slack, looking from his son to his consort and back, in one part terror and one part rage.

"Explain yourself, Nyx, explain quickly, or I will strike you down," Hades said through gritted teeth. "First, you accommodate my son's excursions to the surface, now you strike him dead within my own halls."

"Silence, Hades," Nyx said, her voice echoing through the House. "Lest you forget who made you this House or who could bring it crashing down on your head. You are in my domain, never forget that."

Hades wasn't intimidated. His spear materialized in his hand, and he struck the base against the ground.

"I am not the one sewing this anarchy, Nyx. Answer me." Though unintimidated, Hades's voice was more even.

"It has become prudent to prevent Zagreus from continuing on his path," Nyx said, turning her back on Hades.

Hades knelt beside his limp son with mixed emotions. He had longed for Nyx to side with him against Zagreus's affairs, but he hadn't considered that she might do it with violence. He held his son's head in his hand. Fear gripped him when he saw the knife lodged inside him.

"Nyx, what is this dark magic?" Hades said, his voice growling and quiet. Fear tinged it, now. He had stood against his son for so long he'd nearly forgotten what it was like to love him.

"It will prevent him from awakening. My son, Thanatos, has no power over him now. He will remain suspended here."

"Oh, no..." Hypnos squeaked from his hiding place with Meg behind a table.

"Undo this, now, Nyx!" Hades roared, trying to wrench the knife from Zagreus's chest. It was immobile, as though it had fused inside of Zagreus, the limp body of Hades's son now absent and peaceful, as if in a deep sleep.

"I would have thought you would be elated, Hades," Nyx said bitterly. "Your troubles with Zagreus are over."

That seemed to be all Nyx had to say on the matter. She disappeared in a blink of darkness.

"You!" Hades whirled on Hypnos, who flinched, hiding behind the table. Hades soon wrenched the table away, and, eyes blazing, tugged Hypnos to his feet by the forearm and yanked the spindly lad over to Zagreus's body. "What is the meaning of this? You gasped when Nyx divulged what foul spell she cast on him."

"They're-" Hypnos swallowed. He had the feeling that Hades wouldn't be kind to the bearer of bad news. "-the Knives of Incapacity." These words meant nothing to Hades.

"Explain," he barked.

"They are knives that are not lethal, they put whoever is struck by them into a deep sleep. In this state, they cannot be taken by death, nor awaken. Mortals call them the 'Knives of Undeath,' or..." Hypnos gulped again. "The 'God-Killers.'"

Hades didn't know how to respond. He lifted his limp son and seated him on the seat adjacent to his own desk. There, Zagreus sat, impassive, eyes closed, lips parted, his eyelids flicking with the signs of a deep sleep.

"How is it undone," Hades asked, his voice going from angry to imploring.

"The knives can only be removed on three conditions," Hypnos said, struggling to recount the information. "If she who pierces the knives into their victim removes them. If she who pierces the knives into their victim meets a mortal end. Or if he who is pierced removes them with his own hand."

Megara watched from afar. It was surreal, seeing Zagreus brought so low. She was used to seeing him spring up from adversity, not laid low in such short order. Nyx's power must be incredible. Though Megara was a creation of Nyx, she did not know her "mother" well. This, however was the first occasion she feared Nyx.

"I doubt we could convince Nyx to remove the knives on her own." Hades said. "I do not know what malady has afflicted that woman's mind or what Zagreus has done to provoke her, but this madness cannot continue in my house. Hypnos!" Hypnos flinched again. He didn't like loud noises, much less shouting directed at him. "Send for your son."

Hypnos blanched. He swallowed one final time, laughing nervously, wringing his hands.

"I- H-he-" Hypnos stammered.

"You have a son?" Megara said, stunned.

"I have, um! Three, actually!" Hypnos stammered. Hades slammed his hand on his desk.

"I don't have time for this nonsense. Send for him at once, you blathering fool!" Hades wasn't going to back down, and Hypnos, defeated, nodded meekly.

"Pasithea won't be happy about this..." He muttered, wringing his hands together. "She has visitation for this millennia..."

===

Nyx was shaken. She required respite. No doubt Hades was furious with her, it was unlikely her face would be welcome back in the House for some time. Instead, the migrated to a familiar place. Erebus. It was still a largely formless place. Charon was known to make use of it to store inside it his wares and coin, but even in that, it was mostly just a cavernous expanse. Nyx stood in the center of a small island, wiping away her tears.

If she thought she was getting any respite, she was sorely mistaken. From behind her a soft voice emerged.

"Sister?" it said.

Nyx turned to face the interloper, a calm but impatient expression on her face. The interloper was no sibling of hers. Scandalously clad in simply a thin, almost translucent toga, tied at the hip with loose, golden thread, the intruder cocked his hip to the side with a curious look on his face.

"I'm not your sister, stranger," she said, coldly. "I have no siblings."

The stranger approached. He was short, slender, androgynous, and he did have a familiar look to him, his dark skin contrasting with his flaming white hair.

"No, perhaps not, but there is no other word for what we are," the being said. "Forgive me. My name is Eros."

"Eros? Should you not be sipping ambrosia on Olympus? You're the son of Aphrodite and Aries, you're no sibling of mine. How did you come to be here?"

"Ha!" Eros laughed. It was alluring, dangerously so. Nyx wasn't swayed by godly allure but she wasn't blind to it. Eros's very being radiated a magnetic energy, and were she mortal, she might be salivating. Luckily, she was not, so she remained undaunted. "We share parentage. I was also born of Chaos, in a sense. Love the gown, by the way."

Nyx scowled. Chaos was the last thing she wanted to think about.

"Leave me be, Olympian," she said.

"I would, but I seem to be a tad stuck, here." Eros shifted his weight, cocking his hip to the other side, his toga flowing about his toned legs.

"I cannot be expected to help every wayward god who makes their way into this domain." Nyx's voice was haughty. Normally, she might help this mysteriously wayward god, but presently, she felt no sympathy whatsoever. Moreover, she couldn't simply venture into the House of Hades to secure him transport at the moment.

"Fine, fine..." Eros waved his hand dismissively. "Ice cold, aren't you? Poor Eros, forced to walk these halls forever!" Eros grinned cheekily. Nyx pinched the bridge of her nose in her hand.

"Come," she demanded, outstretching her hand. Eros strode over, his hips swaying with each step. He looked up at Nyx with large, round eyes. "Put your hand in mine and I will send you to the House of Hades. Inform a shade that you are not dead and they will send you home. I do not know how you have come to be here, but I will not be so kind if you wander down here again."

Eros put his hand in Nyx's. In a blink, he was gone, returned to the House. Nyx was left alone, at last.

===

In the House of Hades, Eros was shocked to see the disarray.

"Who are you?" demanded a voice from behind him. Eros didn't turn around immediately.

"Hmmm..." He put a finger to his chin, affecting deep thought. "Big, growly voice, demanding tone- Why. Uncle Hades?" Eros finally deigned to turn around, and sure enough, the bearded, scowling face of Hades leered down at him.

"You." Hades regarded Eros with particular distaste. Hades wasn't familiar with the many lesser Olympians and he didn't wish to. Now, in a time of great turmoil, one had blinked into appearance in his very domain! None but Hermes was so much as permitted so far below the Earth. "What foul machination brought you down here, you pest?"

"D'awww, don't be so mean, Uncle!" Eros prodded Hades with a teasing finger. Shades had all paused their work, staring slack-jawed at Eros, eyeing him up and down in awe. Hades was uncomfortable, batting Eros's hand away. "Don't you worry, I want to get out of here as much as you want me gone! I just came to visit my dear old parental down here, and wouldn't you know it? The ditz dropped me right in Tartarus! Scandalized, I was."

Hades growled gruffly. He pushed Eros aside, striding past him.

"Fine. One of my shades will help you operate the necessary channels to the surface." Shades hastily raised their hands, blushing red in the face for a chance to help Eros, swooning in delight. Hades found their prostrations despicable. "But if I find you here again, I'll make you take the long way out."

"Good to see you, too, Uncle!" Eros called across the hall. Then, he spotted it. Something that gave the God of Sex pause. He blinked. "Hey," he asked one of the dutiful shades, who nodded slavishly as soon as Eros addressed them. "Is that Zagreus?"

The shade nearly fainted.

"Y-yes, your most highness!" she hastily said, adjusting her ghostly hair. "He's Hades's son. Nyx impaled him on her knife, now he's incapacitated. It's such a sordid affair. W-wouldn't you much rather come this way? I can help you find your way out of here!"

Eros paused, watching Hades kneel next to Zagreus from the distance. His smile was gone.

"Soon, my good shade," Eros said, more solemnly. "First, I must bear some bad news to my parent." Without regarding the shade, he spoke to her. "I will be back soon to take my leave. Keep it ready for me."

Before the shades astonished eyes (and to their dismay,) Eros sank into the floor and disappeared.


	11. Terror

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hypnos summons Morpheus, Chaos discovers Nyx's betrayal.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Good tidings, readers. It's me, Greek Mythological Scholar and Literary Thirst-Quencher, Funk McLovin. I thought I should appraise you all of a recent poll, taken on my twitter. The results speak for themselves-
> 
> [The poll in question. (Click the link.)](https://twitter.com/FunkMcLovin/status/1316956570643795971?s=20)
> 
> Also, let me just say- I read all your comments, and the ones you've given me are so kind. There are only a few more chapters to go, here, and I doubt I would have finished this without all of your kind words! : )

Eros, after re-emerging into the House of Hades, was sent on his way without much fuss. It was unknown where he'd gone to shortly before he left, but when he returned from that place, he looked uncharacteristically solemn and stone-faced.

Meanwhile, Hypnos prepared to call for his son. Megara was still in shock at the revelation.

"You were married?" she asked in disbelief. They were in Hypnos's room, where Hypnos was preparing to commune with his wife.

"Yeah, kinda sorta?" he said, obviously not comfortable discussing his affairs. Megara didn't share that feeling.

"But you're so young!" she offered, still incredulous.

"Hey!" Hypnos said. "I might be youthful, but I'm older than some olympians!"

Hypnos sighed, irritated, a rare emotion for him.

"Do you have to be here for this?" he demanded. He had placed a mirror on the floor, around which candles were lit.

"No," replied Megara simply, raising her eyebrows. She made no move to leave, and Hypnos huffed, face burning. He placed his hand flat on the mirror, and when he lifted it and looked down into it, he and Meg saw the face of a woman, a goddess inside a white room.

"Hypnos?" said the woman.

"Heyyy! Pasithea!" Hypnos said, faux-cheerfully, a forced smile on his face. "Look, um. I kind of need to talk to Morpheus, is that cool? It's cool, right?"

On the other line, Pasithea scowled. Hypnos closed his eyes, bracing himself. Megara watched, amused.

"You interrupt my work after I haven't heard from you in DECADES, and your first request is to see 'your' son?" Pasithea's voice was husky and soft, but it seemed pointed in its relaxed tone. Megara couldn't help but snort.

"I- Look, it's not for me, okay? There's a problem down here, and-"

"We agreed, Hypnos. One millennia with you, one with me. I don't want my children spending one moment more in that literal hell-hole than they need." Pasithea cut Hypnos off. "You interrupted my repose, you know. You could come up here to visit them if you weren't so bull headed."

"Pasithea..." Hypnos pleaded.

Megara had to cover her mouth to keep from laughing. Hypnos shot her a side-eyed dirty look that failed to intimidate the fury.

"Morpheus is his own man, they're not children any more. Just let me speak to him. Let him choose. Please?"

Pasithea crossed her arms, raising her eyebrows. Hypnos grit his teeth.

"If... If you do, I'll come up there and visit."

"You will?" Pasithea's demeanor changed on a dime, from scorn to almost sleepy comfort, her eyelids drooping, a dull smile spreading on her face. "Oh, Hypnos, we miss you so much... I'm so glad!"

Hypnos closed his eyes as Pasithea stood, summoning their son.

"God, you really must hate the surface," Megara said, almost impressed. "Your wife is beautiful."

"It's just..." Hypnos winced. "It's so bright up there!"

A man sat back down at the mirror on the other end. His skin was pitch-black and his eyes were starkly bright blue, wide and mysterious. His voice was serene and measured, and while he shared Hypnos's light colored hair and its wavy texture, it cascaded around his shoulders luxuriously. He looked much older than Hypnos, so hearing his words spake with such eagerness struck Megara as surreal.

"Heeeey, pops. Long time, no talk." Morpheus seemed not to share his mother's disdain for Hypnos's absence. "It's so good to see you. Still working for Lord Hades? I envy your noble work and all that, pops."

"Pops?!" Megara snickered from behind Hypnos. Hypnos was only able to narrow his eyes briefly at her.

"It's good to see you too, Morpheus, um- Can you. Can you not call me pops? Father's fine. Or even Dad!"

"Haha, no way, pops, that would undermine the whole vibe I'm going for, you feel me?" Looks like Morpheus was even more easygoing than his father. Or perhaps just as, but in a different manner.

"Morpheus, can you... Can you come to Hades? There's a problem that we might need your help with." Hypnos, in a startling display of brevity, made the demand hastily.

"Oh, yeah, totally. If mom's down with it, I can hop over there." Morpheus placed his palm on the mirror's surface. Hypnos did the same, and through the mirror their fingers inter-weaved. Once they were joined at the hand , Hypnos pulled his son on through into Hades.

"Zagreus won't be pleased to know you have this," Meg said, arms crossed.

"Yeah, well, it only works on me and my family," Hypnos said. Morpheus looked around the room in awe, running his hands over the pillars, as though in a stupor.

"Man, pops, you've got some great digs. Small compared to mom's place, but yours is so..." Morpheus closed his eyes, smiling. "Homey."

"Hello, Morpheus. My name is Megara," Meg said, extending her hand. Orpheus was tall, standing nearly a foot higher than his father, though he was just as spindly, possibly more so. He shook Meg's hand in awe.

"Meg... Yeah, pops told me about you guys. One wing- The furies, right?"

"That's right. I believe that makes me your aunt."

"Aunt Meg. Ha. What a miraculous day. Pops, how come you didn't invite me to meet the fam sooner?"

Hypnos looked uncomfortable. It was a good question, but the trio didn't have time to unpack Hypnos's family baggage right now.

"We need you for something important, Morph," said Hypnos. "My friend Zagreus. He's in a sorry state."

"That's a good question. How is Morpheus supposed to help, anyway?" asked Meg, watching Morpheus gaze over the books on Hypnos's desk.

"He's the god of dreams," Hypnos replied, opening the door to his room, leading them back into the House proper. "We should be able to make Zagreus take the knives out from his own chest if we can give him the right dream. That's Hades's idea, anyway. Do you think you can do that, Morph?"

Morpheus nodded, putting a hand to his heart.

"I'll try my best, pops. Grandma finally used her knives on someone, huh...? Man... That's brutal." Morpheus's voice was slow, almost lumbering, deep and thoughtful. He regarded everything with awe, and his hair seemed to flow around him subtly, like they were underwater.

===

Nyx brooded in empty Erebus for some time. She missed her husband. He seldom made himself known, but she had not seen him for a long while, since Zagreus's conception. She'd meant to ask Chaos for his whereabouts, but that plan was now impossible. She couldn't face Chaos, now. She closed her eyes, letting the cavern fall away.

Had she done the right thing? The impassive face of Chao̸s as they erased her world appeared in her mind, and her fear, one that had re-played itself time and time again also appeared- Chaos erasing the Earth just like they had her world, with the same lack of passion, the same absolute indifference.

When Nyx opened her eyes, however, she was shocked to find herself no longer in Erebus. She was floating in nothingness. She was in Chaos. There was silence, silence spare for her heart hammering.

"Nyx..."

A low, primordial rumble emanated from everywhere around her. The voice filled inf̴i̸n̵ity, it bore into her, it made her flinch, made her squint, as though a great wind was blasting her face.

"Chaos," she replied evenly as she could.

The great primordial originator ap̴p̵eared before her in the massive. To her abject terror, it was a form she'd only seen once before. Chaos's most true physical form, a singular white milky eye, bordered by red, the size of a planet before her, f̶i̴l̷l̶ing her whole vision. It was ethereal, even for a primordial goddess, and she trembled, breathless. She'd never been made so terrified, her paltry mask falling away, her black lips parting with fear.

"What have you done to him?" Chaos demanded. Their voice was not raised, but it reverberated inside Nyx, their very words shaking her every atom. "Explain yourself. Immediately."

Nyx grit her teeth. She hadn't expected this. Never in her wildest dreams.

"This... This isn't fair!" she cried over the d̸͇̞̉ị̷̪̆̓ñ̷͎̣̚ of the tremors wracking the entire ini̷̪͆ň̶̻f̷̨̦͋͝i̴̩̅͊n̸̰̿͝i̴̧͙̋̄t̷͉͋̅y̷̖̪̏ ̸̡̱̌̂ő̵̳̂f̴̧̞̏̍ ̸̟̈́C̴̢͉̏h̷̭̔aos. "You destroyed my world in an instant, and now you have passion for what is inside of it?!"

"̷I̷ ̷said, ex̶p̶lain yourse̴l̸f̶.̵" Cha̷o̶s̵ ̷r̷epeated. Their sin̸g̴u̷l̸a̸r̴ ̷e̴y̸e̸ ̵g̷lowed a har̷s̴h̵ ̵w̷h̴i̷t̷e̶,̸ ̶b̷u̶r̸n̸i̶n̴g̷ Nyx's e̸y̴e̴s̷ ̷e̷v̸e̷n̸ ̵b̸e̷h̷i̸n̸d̸ ̷h̵e̶r̵ ̷e̵y̷e̶l̸i̷d̷s̵.̵

N̸y̶x̴ ̴c̷o̸u̶l̷d̴ ̴n̵o̸t̶ ̴s̴p̶e̵a̶k̸,̵ ̷b̷u̴t̴ ̷e̶v̵e̷n̶ ̸i̸f̸ ̸s̵h̸e̸ ̷c̴o̸u̴l̷d̸,̴ ̵s̵h̵e̸ ̴c̸o̴u̷l̵d̸n̵'̶t̸ ̵b̶e̵a̷r̸ ̷t̷o̴.̷

N̷y̴x̶ ̸s̴u̸f̵f̷e̸r̵e̴d̸,̸ ̶u̵n̶a̴b̷l̸e̵ ̸t̵o̵ ̸s̷o̵ ̵m̸u̷c̷h̷ ̴a̸s̶ ̶s̷p̶e̵a̷k̵ ̴a̶s̸ ̷C̶h̷a̸o̵s̵ ̴d̸i̸d̴ ̴s̸o̵m̵e̴t̸h̵i̵n̷g̵ ̸t̴h̴e̴y̴ ̶h̷a̴d̵n̷'̸t̴ ̴d̸o̵n̸e̴ ̴s̷i̶n̵c̸e̵ ̴t̷h̶a̶t̸ ̸d̴a̸y̴ ̶s̷o̴ ̴l̵o̶n̵g̸ ̷a̷g̶o̴.̷ ̸C̷h̶a̸o̵s̶ ̷s̸t̶e̸p̵p̴e̸d̸ ̷f̷r̴o̶m̴ ̸t̶h̵e̷i̴r̷ ̴r̶e̸a̸l̴m̶.

Ç̶̖̟̈̌͋̏̏ḥ̵̛͆͊͌͝a̷̯͆͗̎͝ǒ̴͈͔͐̏ş̴̈́̇̓̈ ̵̢̗͚̞͗͒c̷̨̧͓͋͘a̵͎̠͌̌s̴̡̮̈́͌̕c̵̪̭̙͔̞͐͌͠ậ̴̛̞͂̑d̸̩̓̍e̶͚̖̬͋̎̽d̴̫̯̿͜ ̶͎̭̪̥̈́́̒̇i̶̗͓̤͗̚n̸͎̬̙̺̾̊̓͝ ̷͔̠̐͝ỏ̷̺̫̯n̷͈̭̼̻͝ ̸̼̗̰̥̈̐̃̈͆į̶̠̍͗̑̚t̸̗̻̼̞̤̑̇̅s̶͖͕͈̼̑́e̵͈͗̿l̷͕̻̞͝f̵̻̩͑͠,̴̦͑ ̶̦̝͍̃͜a̸͍͇͚͎̫̤̭̟͂̄̌̔ş̵̪͈͎͛̋͛͑͛̈́͘̚͜͝ ̷͖̲̥̭̈̈́̑̈́͋̚C̴̲̪̺͍̥͇͊̔́͒͌̽͝h̶̯̲̥̼͎̹̉͐̽̐̈́͒̚ã̸̡̗̳͙͉̬͉̖̗̾ǫ̴͎̣̪̜̹͉͈̐̂͐̓͛̚͝͠s̴̢̝̦̞̯̪͙̉̚ ̴̡̪̮̹̥́̉̐̓͗̅̾͗͘͠ȩ̸̠͈̜̋̅͠x̸̛̛̜̬̤̝̿̍̿̓̉͂̈́i̷̞̬̼̓̃̂̋͘͝t̸̗͒̔̋̂̎̕e̵̗̪̒̉̾͐͘d̶̝̈̽͋͋͌̍̓̅̍̒ ̵̪̰̫͖̜͖̦̹̘̿͜t̷̡̺̣͈̪̩̓̓̊̃͆̇̆͘h̶̲͚͚͖͕̦̫̼̽̄͒ě̵̯̪̲͖͈͉̄̾i̴̙̼̫̩͛̒r̶̥͐̏̽͌͗̾̃͠ ̵̡̠͖̣̰̈́̑̋͐ǒ̵̻̲̟͈̥̜̬̖w̴̨̡͈̜̩͍̲͙̥̾͊̓͒͒͜n̸̝̭͇̲̘̳̿̍̎͌͒̒̈́͐́ ̸̡̨̱̠͖͎͐͌͜ḑ̶͍̟̰̹̲͚̎͝ḯ̸͈̥̭̝̼̿̂͝͝m̴̬͒̏ẻ̶̟͖̥̱͛͌̉̍̃̀̕͝ͅñ̵͇̥̬̯͇̜̺̐̔͛͘ş̶̣̫͚̼̬̮̗̟͂͒̑̂̄̑̕͝ͅi̴̛̛̫̼̓̈͒̚o̶̧̢͎̤̟̗̘̻͔̅̆̑n̵̰̱̝͍̳̗͉͋͊͠ ̷͇̲̣͙̍͂ą̵͖͓̬̙̈́͂͌n̶̝̝̘͇̈́ͅd̸̛̳̹̟̥̪̰̭̔̓͛͛̐͜ ̸͕̦͓̱̘̆͆͛̂̐̈́͛̈͘͘į̶̛͉̟͈̩̦̗̽̔̅͐̈́͗̏̿̚͜n̷̛̖̪͔͇̲͔̣͖̳͊̽̿̕t̵̢̹̜̮̖̩̣͛̃̈́̕ͅȯ̵̞͚ ̵̗̏́̐̓̐͝t̷̛̩̱́h̸̼͊͛̎͆̃̋̋̎̅͠ḙ̵̰̘̞̼̜̗̯͘͜ͅ ̷̡̨͍̰͚̗̮̆̄̐̈́͆͛͂͘w̸̺͙͑̂̆̿ő̵̧̥̥̙͚͔͖̜̈́͋͌̑̀r̴͓͎̐̎̈́̇͘ͅl̷̢͉̼̫̠̲͉͚̞̪͋̓̄̚d̴̨̠̺̦̼͊̇̒̄́̑̚ ̴̧̙̺̣̇̃̇̂ö̷̪̹̤́̊̾̾f̴͓̲̥̥͙́̋̓̇̓̊̋͝ ̵̟̮̮̘͗̾̌Ȩ̸̘͇̹͎̪̬͚̼͗ͅà̸̛̪̟̽͋͆̇͊̉̈̌r̷͉̗̠̼̰͔͎͎̄͆̈́̈́͝t̵͎̘̠̔̚ḩ̵̻̮̂͜ͅ.̶̨̨͈̫̲̻̥̞̄

T̴̢̨̛̻͍̺̻̪̟̩̦̰͈̜͔̪̘̻̒̎̌͐͐̓̌̏̅̄̿̆̾̐͑̍̀͘͘ͅh̵̼̤͈̹̲̟̲̳̱̥͖̤̏͋̈́̔̀̊͗̓̓̚i̵̢̝̲̘̦̮͉̲̯͖̜̦̠͕̰̣̫̪̩̙̼̮̍n̵̟͛̅̒́̕̚ģ̸͈̮̪̦̝͓̜̝̝̗͔̟͕̤̺̥͐̄͑̈͊̓̆̏̓̆͐̑͘͠͠s̸̢̨̡̭͍̳̫̯̟͈̪̜̠̝̼̖̻͚̳͙͎͙̐͒̎̂̽̚͜ͅ ̵͓̠̬̻̙̰̮̲͔̗̘̒w̴̧̡̡̛͇̱̹̫̫͕̬̮̤̝̔̔̐́̾̋̔̓̆̒̊͝e̶̢͈̺̥̝̙̝͉̱̎̋̅̐̃̏͋̇̊͛̊͒͆̏̋͛̊̈́̕̚͝͠ȓ̸̛̗̜̜͈͐͝ḙ̶̢̛̫̗̲̈̐̆̄̌̓͝ ̸̟͚̘̞̭͈͖̺̯͎̀͋͒̓͘̕a̶̧̧̛̟̺͖͇̠̦͉͖̹̫̤͉̥̪̯͚̻͖͕͎̤̮̽̇̍̈̽͆̆͊͒̂̉̎̒͋͆͑̎̔̿͘͝͝b̶̡̢̨̛̥̯̭̣͕͇̩̘̙͇͙̺̫̝̞̩̩͑̈́̓͋̐̂͐̍̈́̆́̔̒͊͠ö̸̙̳̞͈͚́͛̂͂̔̿͌͜͜ú̸̝̦̍́̈̑̐͌͋̆̿͊̈́̅̏̕͘͜͝t̴̢̢̨̛͙̬̺̣̞́̉͊̏̒̌͑̽̓̏̊̾͌͊͝͝͝ͅ ̶̢̛̳͕͍̼̪́̈̇̄̑̈̚͝t̴͔͈̙͉̅͊̈́͠ờ̴̧̢̡̛̙̑̊͑̾͂̈́͐̓̉͛͒̔̑͘͘̚͠ ̸̨̛̠̼̹̠͙̗̲̯̝̘͚̫͔͉͒͌̏͑̆̽̃̎̈̔̎̈́̎̽̚͜͝g̴̫͍͙̤̮̜̞͉̝͙͎̳͉̯̺̼͖̋̂̏̒͌̌͂͐̓̒̌̉́̌̄̋͘͠͝ͅg̵̨̢̼̫̥̜͍̫̰̩̘̤̬̦̥̲̤͌̏ͅg̵̡̢͙̠̩̟̭̈́̃̉̏͐͛̇̍̐͌̽͑̍͊̓͛̃̃̕͝g̴̢̡̛̣̥̩̰̯͙̭͆̎͗͒̃͑̈́͋͆͗̂̂̄̓̆͘g̴̤̣̹̬͚̠͉͖͉̱͙̓̓̂͊͂͆̃̍̍̿̒̓̔͗͆̎͛ģ̴͔̟̺̂͗̈́͗̿̓͋̈̈͑̒̎̈́̓̓͒̑͊̐̚̚͠͝g̸̡̱̪̥͉͇̫̠͊̾̚͜ͅģ̶̱̘̙̲̺̤̪͗̈͑͜ͅģ̶̰͔̫̦͎͚̞̙̹̻͖̱͓̰̯̦͕̀̃̽̑͝g̴̯̞̦̙͇͌̅̀͆́͊̒̓͛̑̉̊̓̕͘͠͠͝ͅg̷̗̘͔̖̩̹̞̻̐̒̎̋́͒̾͊̓̌͋̈́͗̉̊̈̿̄̃̎̿͜g̵̨̢̛̝͕̱͙̰̠͉̭̦͋͗͋̾̑͋̍͗͑̽̀̑̆̒͂̚͘͝͠͝͠g̴̛͔̗̮͉̺̪̳̥̱̙̝̫̱̈͗̈͋̀͛̓͒̈͗̔̌̈́͂̎̓͗̏̚̚͠͝g̴̛̞̺͔͚͈͇̊̽͂̓̆̄̌͛̃̅̿̿͑̆͊̾͒̚͜g̶̱̩̐̽̄̚͠[̷̲̮̜̖̋̇͌̈́͗Ḝ̶̖̪̫̟͇̪̟͎̭͕̮̺̜͉͇̰̼̲͇̠̯͖̎̑̂̍͐̈́͐̅͌͐̄̈̉̍̅͜R̷̛͈̱͇̯͓̤̳̗̆̊̏̆̎̋͋͆͗̍͑̓̇̃̈͂̿̚̕̚̚͠R̴̮̭̮̻̩̺͙̮͚͔͗͜O̷̡̡̡̧̧̤̟̬͔̺̻͉͍̩͔͇͍̯̖̙͉̖̹̲̍͗̑͗̽͌̐͂̑̇͂̇̎̏̍̀̑͘̕R̷̢͔̩̖̦̭͕͙̙̖͙͈̲͈̹̓͜ͅ]̷̡̙͎̜͆̇̆̉̅̊͛̉̾̒̅̇͜͠


	12. [TITLE NOT FOUND]

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chaos

"What is that blasted man doing?" Hades sullenly growled, drumming his fingers on his arm. His forearms were crossed over his already impressive chest, and the whole congregation in the House's main hall didn't dare make a peep lest the Master lose it. Near Zagreus's peacefully sleeping body, Morpheus had his hand on the godling's head, eyes closed in concentration.

"Well, Morpheus is trying to give Zagreus a dream such that he might want to pull something from his chest," explained Hypnos, watching his adult son work. It appeared to be slow-going. Morpheus didn't seem to be making much progress, only getting limp twitches from the snoozing prince. The crowd gasped as Zagreus twitched, swatting something on his chest, so close to where the knife was embedded, but it was no use. His hand limply fell soon after.

"My patience grows thin, God of Dreams," Hades grumbled, approaching Morpheus, tugging the man aside. He took Zagreus's head in his hands. "This is how I woke him up in his boyhood days." The crowd watched awkwardly as Hades shook Zagreus's shoulders aggressively, sending Zagreus's head bobbling back and forth. "Wake up, boy! You're late!"

It didn't work. Hades threw Zagreus onto the chair in disgust. He stomped off somewhere, and a rattled Morpheus continued to try.

"I've tried everything, pops," he said sadly. "I made him have a dream about a bee on his chest. Then a bigger bee. Then a bee the size of HIS pops."

"Maybe try something less, uh- Bee-related?" offered Hypnos.

As amusing as the proceedings were, Megara followed lord Hades into the office, bowing before she spoke.

"My lord," she said, kneeling and standing. Hades didn't offer her anything but a grunt. She took this to mean she was welcome. Hades didn't like the furies, but Megara was an exception. She did excellent work and she didn't bother with idle chatting, unlike every other denizen of his Hell-hole. She was probably the only person he would have permitted to speak had they approached at this moment. "I think we ought to consider what's to be done once Zagreus awakens. Nyx put him to sleep for reasons we are not aware, and she may try again, or she may resort to worse measures."

Hades had been considering that, and while he resented Megara for putting his fears into words, she wasn't wrong.

"Without Nyx, my reign in the underworld would be impossible. Administrative duties. Integrity. If she had qualms with anyone else, I would dispose of them without so much as a trial. She made this place, and she could undo it if she wished," he said. Megara knew as much, but Hades continued. "Nyx has never so much looked unfondly at anyone until now. I don't know her mind, Megara. I assumed she would remain impassive for time immemorial. I have contingencies in place should any of my agents step out of line, you've seen as much with Zagreus's foolish escape attempts. But I had none for Nyx."

"Well, we will have to concoct one now," Megara said simply. If anyone else had spoken those words, Hades might have roared at them for insubordination, but Meg's words bypassed his pride.

"We do not even know what that boy has done, why Nyx decided to kill him in the first place. It wasn't a punishment," Hades reasoned, "for if she meant to teach him a lesson, she wouldn't have incapacitated him so permanently. She was specific, if Hypnos's words on those knives are to be trusted. She wanted to do away with him."

"Indeed," said Megara. "It's a bit upsetting."

Outside of the room, there was a sudden, loud bang.

"We do not even know what that boy h̸a̷s̷ ̶d̷o̷n̷e̸,̷ ̶w̵h̵y̷ ̵N̷y̵x̴ ̵d̸e̸c̶i̸d̶e̵d̵ ̶t̶o̵ ̷k̴i̷l̵l̷ ̶h̸i̴m̶ ̶i̶ill him in the first place. It wasn't a punishment," Hades reasoned, "for if she meant to teach him a lesson, she wouldn't have incapacitated him so permanently. She was specific, if H̸y̸p̶n̸o̵s̸'̸s̷ ̴w̸o̵r̵d̸s̴ ̴o̵n those knives are to be trusted. She wanted to do away with him."

"Indeed," said Megara. "I̸t̴'̶s̵ ̴a̵ ̵b̵i̸t̵ ̵u̶p̸s̴e̷t̷t̶i̷n̵g̸."

Outside the of room, room, room, there wwwwwwwwwww

"What the devil was that?" Hades turned towards the door,

"̴W̵e̸ ̶d̶o̵ ̴n̵o̴t̴ ̵e̷v̷e̶n̴ ̴k̶n̴o̸w̸ ̸w̸h̴a̴t̸ ̷t̴h̸a̶t̴ ̷b̵o̷y̷ ̸h̸a̷s̷ ̶d̷o̷n̷e̸,̷ ̶w̵h̵y̷ ̵N̷y̵x̴ ̵d̸e̸c̶i̸d̶e̵d̵ ̶t̶o̵ ̷k̴i̷l̵l̷ ̶h̸i̴m̶ ̶i̶n̵ ̵t̸h̴e̷ ̴f̴i̶r̵s̵t̸ ̸p̵l̷a̷c̵e̶.̸ ̵I̷t̶ ̴w̷a̴s̵n̵'̸t̷ ̵a̴ ̷p̵u̵n̷i̷s̵h̷m̵e̷n̷t̷,̷"̴ ̸H̵a̴d̸e̵s̷ ̵

"Something's wrong," said Megara. Dread filled her filled her f

Hades and Megara squinted at the door. Sommme̷t̶h̴i̶n̸g̵ ̷w̴a̸s̸ ̸w̷r̵o̵n̴g̵ ̵w̴i̸t̸h̶ ̶t̶h̶e̷ ̵a̵i̴r̸ ̶a̷r̷o̸u̴n̷d̷ ̸t̴h̶e̶m̵,̷ ̴t̴h̷e̷r̸e̵ ̷w̵a̸s̴ ̷a̴n̶ ̶u̸n̶c̵a̸n̵n̴y̷ ̷glow seemingly filling the very space around them.

"What the devil-?!"

"We do not even know what that boy has done, why Nyx decided to kill him in the first place. It wasn't a punishment," Hades reasoned, "for if she meant to teach him a lesson, she wouldn't have incapacitated him so permanently. She was specific, if Hypnos's words on those knives are to be trusted. She wanted to do away with him."

"Indeed," said Megara. "It's a bit- Wait a moment. What's going on?"

"What is that blasted man doing?" Hades sullenly growled, drumming his fingers on his arm. His forearms were crossed over his already impressive chest, and the whole congregation in the House's main hall didn't dare make a peep lest the Master lose it. Near Zagreus's peacefully sleeping body, Morpheus had his hand on the godling's head, eyes closed in concentration.

"Well, Morpheus is trying to give Zagreus a dream such that he might want to pull something from his chest," explained Hypnos, watching his adult son work. It appeared to be slow-going. Morpheus didn't seem to be making much progress, only getting limp twitches from the snoozing prince. The crowd gasped as Zagreus twitched, swatting something on his chest, so close to where the knife was embedded, but it was no use. His hand limply fell soon after.

"My patience grows thin, God of Dreams," Hades grumbled, approaching Morpheus, tugging the man aside. He took Zagreus's head in his hands. "This is how I woke him up in his boyhood days." The crowd watched awkwardly as Hades shook Zagreus's shoulders aggressively, sending Zagreus's head bobbling back and forth. "Wake up, boy! You're late!"

"Didn't you already try that?" Hypnos asked. Hades blinked. He looked down at his hands. Zagreus was gone.

"What the-?" Hades blinked, dumbfounded and more frustrated than ever. "Who's there? What in Olympus's name is going on here?"

Behind the group, someone spoke. Someone new. Everyone turned simultaneously, and there stood Chaos, in their midst, like they had always been there. They had taken a sleek form. Grey, androgynous, and sexless, nude, without any features, smooth chest without nipples to blemish it, no navel, and no sex characteristics. The whole room seemed to have a hard time staring at them, their eyes watering, ducking their heads, unable to move. Under chaos's arm was Zagreus.

"I̸ ̶w̴i̷l̶l̴ ̶b̸e̸ ̵t̶a̷k̵i̵n̴g̴ ̸t̴h̴e̴ ̴P̶r̷i̸n̵c̶e̴,̷ ̴n̶o̵w̶," uttered the blank-faced figure of Chaos. "T̵h̷i̷n̸g̶s̸ ̵a̴r̸e̵ ̶c̷l̶e̶a̷r̷ ̶t̷o̸ ̵m̵e̴,̷ ̷n̴o̵w̴.̸"

Behind Chaos was Nyx, on her hands and knees, trembling, head bowed.

"Interloper!" Hades bellowed, his spear materializing. "Who dares enter my realm without my permission?"

"Y̴o̶u̶r̶ ̸r̴e̴a̷l̷m̴?̵ ̵H̴o̷w̷ ̴p̴r̷i̷d̶e̸f̶u̸l̷.̴ ̴P̸e̵r̶h̷a̵p̵s̵ ̴y̴o̴u̵ ̶w̴r̴o̴u̶g̷h̶t̵ ̸t̶h̷e̴s̶e̷ ̵h̶a̸l̶l̸s̸,̷ ̶b̶u̶t̵ ̶i̵t̵ ̸w̴a̷s̵ ̷m̵e̵ ̸w̵h̶o̵ ̸g̷a̵v̴e̵ ̶i̷t̴ ̸t̸o̶ ̴y̶o̴u̸,̶ ̴G̷o̶d̸ ̷o̴f̶ ̵t̷h̴e̵ ̴D̵e̶a̵d̶.̶" Chaos waved their hand, and Hades's spear turned to dust in his grip. Hades didn't take kindly to that, howling as he lunged at Chaos with his bare hands, teeth grit, eyes blazing. It looked like Hades was about to tackle Chaos to the ground, but instead, he passed through the being as if Chaos was made of water. Hades thudded onto the ground next to Nyx.

"I̵ ̴o̵n̸c̶e̴ ̶t̵h̶o̷u̴g̸h̴t̴ ̴g̸i̵v̷i̸n̸g̴ ̶l̷i̷f̷e̵ ̶t̷o̴ ̸b̷e̷i̵n̸g̶s̴ ̴w̵o̷u̶l̶d̴ ̴e̸n̸d̴ ̵m̶y̴ ̶m̷i̷s̷e̶r̴a̸b̸l̴e̵ ̵s̸o̸l̸i̷t̷u̸d̴e̶,̴" said Chaos, addressing no one in the crowd in particular. They laid Zagreus's limp body on the ground, placing a hand on the knife embedded in his chest, plucking it out with relative ease. As soon as it came out, Zagreus gasped, shooting upright, eyes wild.

"What the- Nyx? I-" Chaos put a delicate hand on Zagreus's head, carding their fingers through his hair. Zagreus looked at Chaos, slack-jawed. "Ch... Chaos! God- I was having the worst dream about bees, I-"

Before Zagreus could finish, Chaos put a finger to his lips.

"N̷y̶x̶ ̸w̷a̶s̸ ̶r̴i̴g̴h̷t̴,̶ ̴Z̵a̷g̸r̶e̷u̵s̴,̷" Chaos said simply. Zagreus's eyes widened. "I̸ ̸b̵e̶l̸o̶n̵g̴ ̴t̴o̷ ̵s̶o̶l̸i̵t̷u̸d̴e̸.̸"

"Chaos, no! You don't h


	13. Chaos

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chaos makes a choice.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Since this is the FINAL CHAPTER, I made a song to go along with it. Here it is!
> 
> ["MASTER CHAOS, by Funk McLovin"](https://youtu.be/VpaCQpLELVU)

It was empty. Formless. Blank. It was a space with nothing. Every point in it was the center, every direction was black, each point in space indiscernible from the infinity of others. Words failed to describe the place, for it was nothing. Words could be spun for an eternity about what it was not, but even words like "blank" seemed to fail. It was less than blank, and the only word appropriate for it was "nothing."

But nothing is not forever nothing. Into the nothing, something popped, suddenly and without momentum, a sudden existence where for time stretching out into infinity there had been nothing. It was the first something, ever, and as such, words no longer failed it.

It was called "Chaos."

The decision to be something was not made lightly. The first "something" was the antithesis of "nothing," instead of black, it was white. Instead of formless, it was round. A sphere, starkly standing against the lack. It had no size, for no size could be established without reference- So "Chaos" made another sphere. Still white, the same size. The spheres blinked. Eyes.

Soon form began to take shape, spheres and curves and jutting lines and whirling splashes of color, as if a child were playing with finger paint, and before long... Chaos had form and thought.

"I am," thought Chaos.

The first thought. What was "am?" Being. Chaos decided, in their first moments, as an eye floating among the void, that they would make something else.

"I am," thought Nyx.

The second thought. Chaos made something that didn't appear to be "am." This new thing was not the self, but it had a self. Chaos blinked. Nyx blinked back.

"Hello," she said, without words.

"Hello," returned Chaos.

Nyx, unlike Chaos, had suddenly appeared. The first beginning. Nyx had no form, either, an identical white eye floating in the void.

"Who am I?" asked Nyx, without words. Chaos had no answer.

"Perhaps I will make you something to be," offered Chaos, blinking at Nyx.

Chaos reached forth and made something new. Something without self at all, something outside of even the nothing that surrounded them. The first world.

"What is this?" asked Nyx without words. Chaos had no answer.

"Find out, won't you?" implored Chaos. "I will send you there."

The first life.

"Thank you," said Nyx, without words, before departing. Chaos felt something stir within them.

The first feeling.

===

To Chaos, who had lived without beginning, time felt both impossibly fleeting and impossibly long. Before, when there was nothing, time didn't exist, so infinity stretched on. Things were simple, then. Things were new and exciting, things were so full and so good... But now, they weren't. They weighed Chaos down, and where once was only love, now there was just pain and complicated feeling. Nyx, Zagreus, Eros... Beings that Chaos had to deal with the whims of. Chaos was no longer blank at all. They had hung stars in their sky, made surfaces for visitors to walk, even planets and swirling galaxies. Chaos missed the peace that came with nothing, longed for it, but giving up what they had filled them with the most impossible pain of all.

"It isn't fair," they said simply.

"What isn't fair?" Zagreus asked, pacing back and forth on the white plane Chaos had made for them to stand on. "And more importantly, mate, what the hell is going on?"

"Nyx hurt you," Chaos said simply. An answer to both questions.

"I know. She still thinks you're dangerous, I tried to explain-"

"I am dangerous, Zagreus," Chaos interrupted. "Nyx is correct. I could destroy you with less than a thought." Chaos faced Zagreus, their form still the same. Androgynous, featureless except for Chaos's face. Tears streamed down their face, tears that dropped from above like rain. The salt made it smell like the ocean, but the massive droplets all avoided the white plane they stood upon.

"I told you before. I do not deserve the beings I have created. It was a mistake to open myself to you. To Nyx. To Aphrodite and Aries. Only loss and pain comes from it." Chaos's tears dripped from their chin, but they didn't reach the ground before they disappeared. "Is this the only direction life can take?" they demanded. "I have to do away with all these useless things, Zagreus, I was wrong to regret destroying Nyx's world. I cannot be guilty any more." Chaos shakily raised their hand, ready to snap their fingers. To Chaos's shock, Zagreus chuckled.

"Sure is, mate. Life's full of tragedy and death is full of more."

"Wh-" Chaos stammered, dumbfounded. "Then why are you laughing? Do you think my misery is funny?" Chaos clenched their fists. Zagreus's heart creaked. "I try so hard to bring you joy, and now you laugh when I am miserable? What sick joke is this?"

"Chaos..." Zagreus approached Chaos slowly. Zagreus didn't have words for what he was feeling, he couldn't tell you if you asked, but that didn't mean that they were any less real. Zagreus was intuitive, he knew without knowing, and that feeling led him to walk towards Chaos, the God of Everything and Nothing, the God of Gods, the Primordial Thing.

"S-stop!" Chaos raised their arm weakly in fear, but they didn't stop Zagreus, freezing in place when Zagreus's arms wrapped around them. A hug.

"You're just a kid, aren't you?" Zagreus said softly. "A lonely kid. Like me."

Chaos didn't speak, their mouth slack.

"I thought life was just pain, too, mate," Zagreus's words seemed to fill Chaos, the whole universe they were in. "But when I met Nyx, and she hugged me, for the first time, I felt like I wasn't alone. You've been around forever, and no one's once given that to you."

Zagreus held Chaos tightly. Chaos broke. They broke humbly, sobbing, for the first time in their infinity, not having to force emotions, not having to affect them, but feeling them. Feeling the hurt seem to leap from themself, just from Zagreus's embrace, just from their words. Chaos fell to their knees, and for the first time, cried.

"Pain isn't going to stop, Chaos," Zagreus said once Chaos was quiet. "But after it, as long as I'm around, will come relief."

Chaos didn't know if they should believe Zagreus. Risk more pain? Risk more hurt? But Chaos couldn't help it, they nodded. They leaned on Zagreus both in body and in spirit.

"Even though you're the god of gods, you're still a being, Chaos," Zagreus finally broke the embrace. He was crying, too. "You can't afford to be alone, that just makes everything more rubbish than what you started with. If you have nothing... You have nothing."

Chaos's form slowly sank into the floor. Their voice rang out inside Chaos, back to the matter-of-fact drawl they always had.

"Very well, Zagreus. I could not have destroyed your world, regardless." Chaos seemed to sigh. "I will return you home, now."

"You should come, too," Zagreus offered. Chaos paused, again.

===

Zagreus blinked back into existence in the House of Hades. Beside him was the featureless body Chaos had taken.

"No worries, everyone!" Zagreus announced. "Chaos was just, uh-" Zagreus looked from Hades, still sprawled on the floor, to Nyx, gasping for air. "-helping me out."

"Your FRIEND has a strange way of HELPING," Hades hissed through gritted teeth, grabbing Zagreus by the shoulder of his toga. "I don't care what they are, I'm no blind cultist like Aries. If you or they EVER cause such a disruption again, I'll spread your limbs through Tartarus and make you hop on your own ass to collect them!" Zagreus sheepishly put his hands up defensively.

"My apologies, Lord Hades," Chaos said, calmly. Hades looked at Chaos, eyes narrowed, saying nothing, grunting before he let Zagreus go, stomping off to his desk.

"Well?" he demanded to the grouped gods and shades. "Leave us. I have to discuss things with my..." Hades spoke the next word with utter venom. "...Family."

Zagreus next helped Nyx to her feet as the hall cleared out. Nyx was shaken, eyes wide, staring in terror at Chaos. Zagreus had never seen her so much as flinch, so the sight was surreal.

"Easy, Nyx..." He said softly.

"Z-zagreus, you're... Alright. We're... Still here," Nyx murmured in disbelief, watching Chaos like they might at any moment erase the world. Chaos looked away, avoiding her eyes.

"We are, Nyx," Zagreus said gently. "Chaos and I have made a... Pact."

For the first time in their infinity, Chaos blushed.

"You three," Hades said once Nyx was standing. "Explain. Now."

===

Once Hades had been appraised of the situation, he launched into a tirade the likes of which no one in the Undeworld had ever seen. Words more colorful than expected emanated from Hades's mouth, and both Nyx and Zagreus were left sheepish and ashamed. Chaos, on the other hand, seemed impressed.

"Your father requires air, does he not? He seemed to go without breathing for exceptional periods of time," Chaos said once they three had left Hades's presence, reposing in the courtyard behind Zagreus's room.

"That is up for debate, I think. What do you figure, Nyx?" Zagreus looked to Nyx, who had been silent for a while. To his surprise, she bowed her head, kneeling before them both.

"I owe you an apology," she said. Zagreus suddenly felt awkward. It wasn't every day that one's mother figure made such a gesture. Chaos didn't know quite what to make of it either.

Chaos was now draped in a toga similar to Zagreus's, Hades had insisted the being "cover up" in spite of having no shameful features. Chaos blinked, expression unreadable.

"You do not," they said simply. "I destroyed your world. You feared I would again. It is logical. I did consider it when I saw Zagreus in pain."

"Why didn't you?" Nyx asked, rising to her feet, looking between them. Zagreus unconsciously reached for Chaos's hand, which became intertwined.

"It would not be right," Chaos answered. When the confusion didn't leave Nyx's face, Chaos elaborated. "I do not have power over you any longer, Nyx. I created you, but you exist now on your own. I cannot undo you, it would bring me too much pain. You taught me that."

Nyx nodded, closing her eyes. It felt as though a great weight had left her shoulders, a weight Zagreus hadn't even noticed until it was gone. Nyx sighed, sitting on a bench.

"Plus," Chaos offered, "If I destroyed your world, I would be unable to have sex with Zag-mph."

"Ha ha! Chaos, ole pal! Why don't you head on back to your realm? Been a hell of a long day, after all! It's going to be a while before I can see you since father grounded me for so long, but I'll visit as soon as I can!"

"Oh, yes I suppose it has-" Zagreus hastily wrapped his arm around Chaos's shoulder, blushing furiously, muttering something to them about "not in front of my mother."

Sure enough, Chaos blinked out of existence, much to Nyx's amusement. Zagreus was relieved when Nyx didn't tease him.

"I should apologize to you, too, Zagreus. I thought your affair with Chaos would bring danger to us, but hurting you did more damage than I imagined." Nyx was quiet. Apologetic. Zagreus still felt so strange about this, clearing his throat.

"Like Chaos said, you had reason to fear, Nyx. I don't blame you. And I certainly didn't expect you to be so... Strong." To this, Nyx laughed, covering her mouth politely.

"I do not strive to be an instrument of violence, Zagreus, but if need be, I am appropriately formidable. Let us hope you never see that side to me again." Nyx seemed a little haughty, proud that Zagreus seemed to appreciate her strength.

**EPILOGUE**

Nyx's fear of Chaos didn't leave her in its entirety, of course. She still appeared apprehensive whenever they appeared in Zagreus's room or in the dining hall to visit, but it was a wound that was now able to heal. Hades didn't much care for Chaos, ignoring them most days. It was clear he was rather upset that someone new could come and go from Hades as they pleased. Nonetheless, Chaos, much to Zagreus's chagrin, agreed not to assist Zagreus with his plight to leave the Underworld.

Thanatos and Hypnos seemed to appreciate Chaos, meeting their grandparent for the first time, and Hypnos thought that Chaos and Zagreus made a handsome couple. Thanatos had no comment on that matter, though he seemed to be avoiding Zagreus for some reason, nowadays.

Chaos met Persephone, as well, visiting the surface the scant times Zagreus made it past Hades.

"I don't see why you can't just send me to Elysium, mate," Zagreus said sullenly, sitting next to Chaos in the dining hall.

"It is not a journey I can simply hand to you, Zagreus," said Chaos simply. Zagreus scoffed, but didn't push Chaos away, who was leaning against him. Chaos smiled cheekily, an expression they'd gotten rather good at. Megara sat down near them, drinking from her mystery chalice as per usual.

"They're right, Zagreus. Obstacles in your way make victory all the sweeter," she said, to which Chaos nodded.

"Of course you'd say that," Zagreus grumbled.

"I have to ask, though, Lord Chaos," said Megara, respectfully. "Are you a man or a woman?"

Zagreus looked at Chaos, suddenly realizing the question had never struck him. Zagreus, of course, had no preference between the sexes, a fact that was abundantly clear with the hopeless way he dreamily gazed at anyone who so much as smiled at him, so either answer would be equally satisfying, but Chaos paused. He squinted his eyes.

"Yes?" Chaos said hesitantly. Meg blinked.

"Sorry, let me reiterate. Are you male or female?"

Again, Chaos simply cocked their head.

"I think... I'm... Not sure what those. Are."

"You don't know what male or female are, mate?" Zagreus laughed, slinging his arm around Chaos's shoulder. Zagreus still loved that unique smoothness Chaos had. It was shameless, but he took any excuse to touch his lover, and Chaos, if they minded, said nothing of it.

"No, I- It is not a concept I conceived, I apologize."

"Well, males are strong and females are elegant," Megara offered. "Men are larger, women more lithe. Which are you?"

Chaos squirmed in their seat.

"Ah. No thank you," they said, as if Meg was offering them a distasteful dish. Meg frowned.

"You can't just not have a gender, Lord Chaos," she insisted.

"Megara, you are both strong and elegant, and while you are lithe, you are surely larger than some men," Chaos said. This conversation was clearly out of their depth.

"No, no, Meg, men and women have different parts. That's how you tell," Zagreus said.

"What of my sister, Alecto? She has the parts of a man, yet she's a woman," spat Meg, crossing her arms. Zagreus rubbed his chin.

"Guess you're right."

"So... How DO you tell...?" queried Chaos, earnestly curious.

Meg nor Zagreus had an answer. Meg cleared her throat, downing her chalice.

"I must be off. I've better duties than discussing trivialities." She stood up, stiffly, exiting.

"Don't mind her, Chaos," said Zagreus, kissing Chaos's forehead affectionately. "I think when you see a man or a woman, you can just tell. No sense putting it to words, right?"

"Ah, yes," Chaos seemed pleased with that answer. "But... Zagreus, Megara seemed upset that I was unable to choose. Does it upset you as well?"

"Course not!" Zagreus said, smiling. Again, ever-shameless, he took his chance to compliment Chaos.

"I love you no matter what you are."

**Author's Note:**

> Now available as an AUDIO FIC:
> 
> [YOUTUBE LINK](https://youtu.be/4xgOcKMYt8s)
> 
> [Bandcamp Coming Soon]


End file.
